Mass Effect 3: Destiny is Inexorable
by The Gray Jedi Exile
Summary: Mass Effect 3 rewritten without the Ex Machina Crucible, with realistic reactions to Shepard's actions, and a length and depth of conclusion worthy of the Mass Effect Universe.
1. An Idea

Hi everyone, this is the first chapter of a story that I am writing as an alternate version of Mass Effect 3. The plot of the original was full of Ex Machina elements like the Crucible and overly simplified resolutions to galactic conflicts that had lasted thousands of years. I intend to avoid these failures of creativity and make the finale to an excellent story as realistic to the universe as I can. I would like to think myself a fairly intelligent person, but as this is my first story here I welcome all comments, both criticizing and laudatory. One thing I will promise is that if people start to read my work, I will never go dark. Period. There is nothing I dislike more as a reader myself. With that done, let us be off.

 **Inside a Blue Suns Base**

Shepard ducked beneath the nearest piece of cover, ejected a red hot thermal clip, and shouted into his comm unit, "Garrus, flank the right side. I'll draw their fire". Without waiting for a response, the Commander jammed in a fresh heat sink, jumped over the waste high crate he'd been crouching behind and into the line of fire. He threw up a biotic barrier between the mercenaries and himself, sprinted to the left side of the base. The Suns' fire immediately swung in his direction, trailing after him and loudly impacting the base's steel wall. If it weren't for the cybernetic implants that Cerberus had used to turn him into a super soldier, he never would have been fast enough to keep out of the line of fire, even if the mercenaries could not shoot for their lives.

Fortunately for the Commander, he only had to run a short distance. Garrus had fought plenty of battles both with Shepard and against the Suns. The mercenaries' fire quieted as quickly as it had begun when Garrus slipped from his position of cover, just after Shepard, and ducked around the side of the room. He easily rolled a grenade behind their lines and watched as they realized what had happened…an instant before being blasted in five different directions by the supercharged inferno grenade.

After checking to see that the mercenaries were, in fact, dead, which the large amount of gore filling the base confirmed, Garrus pulled his helmet off and chuckled, "Jeez Shepard, you would think you would get tired of my saving your life, that has to be the third time this week."

"You're welcome. Without me drawing their fire your ugly mug might have picked up a couple extra scars. It's called teamwork Archangel, no 'I' in team."

"That's where you're wrong Shepard, there totally is in Turian. Way to go all human-centric on me."

Shepard laughed and looked his friend over, the former C-Sec officer had been with him through thick and thin. In just over two years he had taken down Saren by his side, watched Shepard die when the original Normandy was destroyed, and stormed through the Collector base on a suicide mission. Although he had replaced his pitted and scarred blue armor after their trip through the Omega 4 relay, the scars covering one side of his face betrayed the battles he had followed his Commander into.

The Spectre knew that even if nothing else did, his friend's scars would always remind him of the struggle he had in keeping his team safe. He knew there was little he could have done to protect Garrus from the rocket that had left him in the med bay for weeks, but he nonetheless was left with a feeling of guilt. It his life's mission and death that drove his friends to their pursuits after the destruction of the SR1. Garrus' mission, becoming the vigilante Archangel, had dramatically changed his friend. It cost the Turian friends, his health, and the optimistic view of the universe he had been struggling to hold onto during the fight against Saren. Garrus was a darker person that he had been, and that was on Shepard.

 **The SR2 Normandy - Shepard**

Shepard stumbled into his cabin half drunk and wondering what to do next. Not literally then and there, but over the next month and year. His thoughts were only half put together and blurry from the booze, but he remained coherent enough to know that he was acting without the drive that had carried him through his fight against Saren and mission to take down the Collectors. The Commander felt as if he was bashing his head against the wall of his room for the last few weeks. It had been nearly a month since his solo mission to Aratoht to delay the Reapers, and since then the Normandy and her crew had only been running errands for Admiral Hackett. His team was getting angsty and beginning to suspect he didn't have a further plan. Shepard knew that the Reapers were on their way and that he probably, at best, only had a year before they arrived. He just wasn't sure what to do next. To his knowledge the Reapers didn't have any other vanguards awaiting their arrival and he had no idea where to even begin looking. There just wasn't anyone for the Normandy and its crew to fly off to and kill.

He climbed into his bed still stinking of the cheap beer he had shared with the ground team in the cargo bay after they had cleared the Blue Suns' base and seized the small Prothean artifact that they'd stolen. That was what his team had been reduced to, anti-piracy measures and protecting antiquities from generic thugs. The Normandy would be briefly meeting up with the Fifth fleet to deliver the bounty of the last month before heading back out to search for more Prothean tech. Hackett had claimed the ancient technology they gathered could be a game changer, but Shepard knew it could only do so much. They could gather all the Prothean records remaining in the galaxy, but information from a race that had lost their own fight against the Reapers couldn't save them.

It wasn't like they hadn't been productive after the Suicide Mission either, They put down the rogue Cerberus AI project on Aite and prevent a Cerberus take over of the Geth in the process. Shepard, Liara, and Thane had killed a rogue spectre and installed Liara as the Shadow Broker, making an ally of one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy. And on Aratoht Shepard had blunted the Reaper's arrival, delaying their attack on the galaxy.

Hackett had sent him on that mission and Shepard was sure that it was only the Admiral's effort to keep the mission off the books that kept him from being dragged back to Earth for a court martial. The Commander didn't regret his actions, but he felt an unmeasurable burden on his conscience. It was the same ache that plagued him after he chose Ashley on Virmire. If nothing else was, Aratoht was the ultimate testament to how far he was willing to go to stop the Reapers.

After Aratoht however…there had been nothing. It was like the fights just stopped coming and he was left wandering around aimlessly on near pointless missions. What did those lives he took destroying the relay in the Bahak system matter if he wasn't going to keep fighting to stop the Reapers? He wanted to fight, he was aching for it. The Reapers just weren't giving him one.

Shepard fell asleep reliving the nightmare of his death at the hands of the Collectors. Watching his ship and friends murdered around him, fighting to the end to save each one, and being ejected into space. He was left floating there as the air that sustained him slowly emptied itself from his suit.

EDI's voice carried her wake up call across his cabin, "Commander, we will be rendezvousing with Admiral Hackett and the Fifth Fleet in just over an hour. You have been asleep for eight hours and 43 minutes."

Shepard couldn't remember the last time he slept for so long, it was a nice change. He stood up, stretched, and made his way over to his bathroom. Having his own shower had to be the nicest addition to the SR2. "Thank you EDI, let the crew know I'll be right down."

"Of course Commander, signing you off"

Shepard hurried through his morning routine of showering, brushing his teeth, and shaving before heading out of his cabin. He waited in the vestibule between the elevator and his cabin for the galaxy's slowest elevator to finally open for him. The Commander had to dodge out of Kelly's way when she stepped through the open doors staring down and not noticing him waiting there. She'd been distracted by the old-fashioned clipboard she was carrying and hadn't noticed him.

"Kelly, what can I do for you?"

She glanced up in surprise and took a moment to recover her composure. When she spoke it was without her usual chipper tone, "Well Commander, some of the crew and I were a little concerned about meeting up with the Alliance. We're technically part of a terrorist group since…we're all still officially Cerberus."

Shepard rubbed his face as he realized their rendezvous with the Fifth Fleet would be his first time aboard an Alliance ship since the original Normandy's destruction two and a half years earlier. Seeing Kelly's worried expression, he smiled and did his best to comfort her, "Tell everyone there's no need to worry. I'm working on full pardons for the entire crew, and I _will_ make it happen. The risk you took when no others were willing won't be forgotten." Shepard hit the button for the 2nd deck and the elevator began its agonizingly slow descent.

Kelly nodded, "Thank you Commander, we knew you wouldn't forget about us. Just…after what the Collectors did no one wants to spend any more time in a cell."

Shepard pulled Kelly into a hug. Watching the colonists liquified in front of his eyes and fearing for his crew was one of the most painful experiences of his life. "I promise that I'm taking care of it, I'll find a way."

—-

He stood on the platform in the CIC overlooking the star map. It was a relic of the Turian contribution to the SR1. The Commanding officer was supposed to look down upon the CIC. Shepard knew it had something to do with promoting the chain of command and making orders seem more important. He liked it because the view was unlike anything else. From the platform one literally looked down upon the galaxy and chose where to travel to. There was a unique sense of control over one's destiny when they held that power.

Shepard had already checked his messages, scrolling through dozens of thank you notes and hundreds of requests for his help. He did his best to help where he could, taking down pirates and plundering mercenaries. At the end of the day though, those were side missions. The requests were minor compared to the threat looming over the galaxy and every person in it.

He glanced around the CIC, full of his crew, before deciding to step down from the platform and head into the lab to speak with Mordin. The scientist possessed the most eccentric and brilliant mind Shepard had ever encountered. Mordin was the mad scientist with a plan for every conceivable contingency, no matter how outlandish. If there was anyone in the galaxy equipped to figure out ways to fight the Reapers, it was the Salarian that created a cure for a plague on Omega, created a Seeker countermeasure in just a few days, and reshaped the galactic balance of power by genetically modifying an entire species.

Moments later the Commander stepped into the Normandy's lab. Mordin looked up quickly, "Ah, Shepard, good to see you, had request to make. But why are you here?" The Salarian paused for a brief moment and raised his hand to his chin, giving him a thoughtful appearance. "Not related to delivery of tech to Admiral Hackett, already told you what we found. Unlikely related to existing Collector research without external stimuli to induce your trip here. You did not take advice on risks of biological contact with other species prior to mission. Best just to ask. What do you need?" Mordin returned to working on whatever experiment he had in front of him.

"I don't know that I've ever stumped you before Mordin."

"Not stumped, stumped would imply that I had relevant data to support a hypothesis. I do not."

"I'm here to ask for your advice Mordin." Mordin nodded, seemingly suggesting he had at least some idea of what Shepard had come for, even if he had not initially claimed to.

"Last time I gave advice, was ignored. You took few of the precautions suggested when" Shepard interrupted.

"I know Mordin, I regret that. That advice was unsolicited though. I'm asking for your help this time."

"Must admit, intrigued. What's troubling you Shepard?"

"I don't know what I'm trying to do right now. I was thrust into saving the galaxy from Saren and the Collectors. What comes next?"

Mordin never looked up from the table in front of him, "Not surprising you have trouble finding new missions. Every time you made a name for self you were reacting: fighting Batarians on Elysium, stopping Saren after Eden Prime, moving against the Collectors after kidnappings. Never proactive, only reactive. Be proactive"

"I think that's an oversimplification Mordin. I haven't exactly had time to figure out what do do next to this point. Waking up from death kind of put me at the mercy of the situation, forced me to work with Cerberus."

"True, but you have time now. Now don't know what to do."

The Commander shifted uncomfortably, he was losing this debate, even in his mind. "So be proactive huh? That's helpful."

The Salarian finally looked up from the table in front of him and set down the beaker and pipette he had been holding. "Everything you've done is to fight the Reapers yes?" Shepard nodded. "Perhaps consider not fighting them now."

"Mordin, I don't follow."

"The Collectors, Saren, Geth Heretics, all agents of the Reapers. All stopped. The threat persists. Stop and wonder what happens when they arrive."

Shepard shook his head, "The Council hasn't listened so far, I'm not confident in their ability to change their minds."

"Then don't try. Make galaxy stronger to fight threat, this is not all your war. Entire Galaxy's."

Shepard was about to interrupt and disagree, but stopped. Mordin was right. He could fight the Reaper's pawns all he wanted, but they were all going to die when the Reapers arrived. He needed to change that calculus, give them a chance. "Mordin, the Krogan…"

Mordin looked at the ground for a moment. Turning around to face the darkness of space behind him he slowly nodded, "Thought about this, was favor I wanted to ask you. I desire resources and facilities to modify genohage again, reduce birthrate to manageable level without the miscarriages." He shuddered, "Miscarriages terrible psychological weapon. Should not have been forced onto Krogan. Ever. You have necessary connections to Krogan, and resources to fund effort. Have some in savings myself, not enough for task."

"I thought about it before we went through the Omega 4 relay. Wrex was a good leader, but I wasn't sure they were ready for a cure. He needed time to unite his people, stomp out rebellious elements." Mordin kept his eyes on Shepard but made no comment. "That was what I thought, but we're out of time. We need their help. We'll find a way to get you and the equipment you need to Tuchanka to begin your work, and I'll talk to Hackett and the Council."

"Thank you Shepard, and thank you for keeping Maelon's data. Will be invaluable. Also, before mission, knew Council must be convinced of Reapers. Gathered evidence." Mordin sent Shepard a package of data over his omnitool. "Give this to the Council. Should be enough."

"For some reason I find that hard to believe."

"Will be. Easy to dismiss theory or hypothesis, even with some data to support, when conclusion is grim. What's the human phrase?" Mordin paused, "Ah yes, seeing is believing. Footage of collectors, Reaper, scanning data of Collector base, and DNA samples comparing Collectors to Protheans hard to dismiss. Especially if you threaten to release data released to public."

"I hope so, but even if they acknowledge there's a threat, something tells me convincing them to change their minds on the genophage still won't be easy. Thank you Mordin, after this meeting with Hackett and the Fifth Fleet we'll head to the Citadel to buy equipment and speak to the Council. If they agree we'll head to Tuchanka and set you up immediately, money could be an issue but we'll find a way." Shepard turned and walked out of the lab feeling better than he had in weeks. He would face the Council for the first time in months, prove the Reaper threat, and start unifying the forces he would need at his back when the Reapers arrived. First the Krogan, then the Quarians, and if the council started building up military forces they might have a chance. A slim one if they couldn't gain some other advantage, but a chance nonetheless.

Shepard smiled. He had a mission, and this time it wasn't one thrust upon him. He was taking the offense.

I edited this chapter a few times after its original posting. It now contains a bit more exposition and background and hopefully better represents the story's quality. (TGJE - 4.26.2016)

As a side-note, the quality probably dips a bit after this chapter since I rewrote it without rewriting the next few. It will get better as the chapters go by.


	2. A Visit from Hackett

**The SR2 Normandy**

Shepard walked out of the lab and up toward the bridge, passing Kelly in the CIC as he went. Joker was sitting at the bridge, engaged in a staring match with his console when Shepard came up behind him, "Jesus Commander, you're already up and about with all you drank last night? I'd be impressed, but I was pretty sure you were some kind of super-being already."

"Very funny Joker, for a guy who doesn't drink you sure love giving other people crap about it don't you? And before you start I know you give me crap about everything."

"It's pretty easy to abstain from alcohol when you're an unsteady step from a broken ankle or stumble away from a shattered wrist, and let's just say that I learned that the hard way my freshman year at flight school. I was sidelined for an entire damn year. I thought my life was over."

"I didn't know, my apologies, I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. I can't complain that it did happen though. If it weren't for that extra year in training you may not have been assigned to the SR1, and where would I be if it weren't for my crack pilot?"

"Probably lacking a sense of humor and dead on Ilium. Anyhow, what can I do for you Commander? I assume you didn't come up here to let me harangue you over your impressive ability to metabolize booze."

"I was just going to wait up here for us to meet up with Hackett, and let you know that once we leave the fleet we're going to head on to the Citadel. I'm done playing errand boy, it's about time we start to piss off the council and save the galaxy again." He paused, "Can you keep that to yourself though? I'm not sure how much the Alliance will appreciate our messing up their carefully laid plans for galactic diplomacy post Collector extinction, and I want to keep Cerberus from finding out where we're headed in case they try to take the ship back."

"Sure thing Shepard. Have you spoken to the Illusive Man since you fried that QEC thing? Miranda said he sounded pissed."

"Not really no. And I intend to keep it that way for a while. He needs to learn that I don't take orders from him, and if he plays nice for a bit we can talk to him again and try to make use of his resources. For now though, I want to keep him in the dark."

"Fair enough. You're the one with the plan Commander. We're coming up on Hackett's ship now. We're being pinged with a boarding request. Should I assume you want to accept?"

"Of course, I'm curious what he'll say about all the Cerberus logos still on the walls." He had tried having the crew scrape them off, but they had the toughest paint any of the crew had ever seen. Shepard was pretty sure they were burned into the metal with some kind of coloring powder.

"I'm sure it will be fine Shepard, and, if it isn't, we're all going to hang together. And on that note, we are docked."

The outer door of the airlock almost immediately pinged and EDI announced that a party was requesting entrance into the Normandy. Shepard granted permission to open the inner doors when decontamination was complete, and the doors slid open a few brief moments later. Hackett, a taller man than Shepard had expected, towered over the Colonel he had escorting him, likely as his aid. Hackett shook Shepard's hand with a smile that communicated that he was a friend, "Thank you for everything Commander, I know the Alliance hasn't been as welcoming or helpful as you'd like, but know that there are those of us in the brass who've been working against the Reapers since the attack on the Citadel. We can't all be as useless as the politicians. Anderson speaks highly of you, he's a good man, and I trust him."

"Thank you Admiral, it's a pleasure to finally meet you after all this time. Captain Anderson has only ever had good things to say about you as well. Perhaps we can talk as I give you a tour of the ship and introduce my crew? I have a few requests to make sir, but I understand if your support has to be limited."

"Of course Commander, lead the way."

Shepard led Hackett and his aide through the CIC and into the Lab where Mordin was working. "Admiral, this is Dr. Mordin Solus, a former member of the STG and a specialist in bio-engineering. It was Professor Solus who developed the safeguards against the Collector Swarmers. He was a crucial ally and teammate, without we would certainly have failed."

Hackett shook Mordin's hand and nodded, "Doctor, I appreciate everything you have done for humanity and all sentient life. I won't inquire as to your work with the STG but I will ask this: are you familiar with the Lystheni?"

"Yes Admiral, Salarians who engage in extensive cybernetic modification, I suspect Cerberus used stolen Lystheni tech to rebuild Commander. Lystheni banned in both Union and Citadel space. Why ask?"

"A small group of Lystheni ships have been isolated in Alliance space near Shanxi and we're unsure about their intentions or disposition. They're being kept in location under guard until the Union sends diplomats and specialists to assist. I was wondering if you had any advice."

"Ah, problematic, I would only suggest preventing possible spies from getting onto ships. Beware cyberattack too. Let Salarians deal with and then shoo out of territory. Unsure of intent, but not good. Fire on them rather than board even, if comes to that"

"Thank you Professor, if I have other questions I'll send them your way. On we go Commander?"

Shepard escorted Hackett through the conference room and armor and introduced Hackett to Jacob before taking him down to the crew deck. Most of the ground team was lined up on the other side of the table.

"Commander, I take it your crew was expecting me? I must admit I'm at a disadvantage, I recognize a few faces but not many."

Garrus stepped forward, "The assembling was my idea Commander, hopefully you're not too upset."

Hackett was uneventfully introduced to the entire crew, and Shepard pulled him into the starboard lounge, which was, thankfully empty. The unnamed Aide de Campe was left to mingle with ground team.

"It's quite a team you put together here Commander. A number of species, but it seems like you have the best specialists in the galaxy. But I didn't come hear to meet your team. We need to discuss your requests, and Aratoht."

"Admiral…"

"There's no need to apologize, I understand what happened and the Alliance has been doing our best to keep what really happened under wraps. The rumors the Batarians have been putting out are blaming the Salarians. Apparently some STG cell was caught on scanners fleeing the system. Benefit of your stealth system that you weren't detected I suppose. If anything changes, and the Batarians start wanting your head, I'll let you know."

"Thank you sir, I did what I had to. Believe me when I say that it isn't resting on my conscience well. I understand the cost, both to Dr. Kenson's team and the Batarian civilians and their slaves. If I hadn't…done what I had to and blown the relay we'd all be dead or dying sir."

"I read your report Shepard, and then I deleted it. No one is to know you were there. Are we understood?"

"Yes. As to my requests, I was hoping I could get funding for a project I'm assigning Mordin and for my continued activities agains the Reapers sir. I'll tell you what I'm having the Professor take up, but it has to stay between you and me, I don't want to start a galaxy wide war."

"Commander, what are you planning?"

"I want Mordin to modify the Genophage. He did it once with the STG to reverse the Krogan's overcoming the original, and I want him to increase the birthrate to a tolerable level and eliminate the miscarriages. Wrex, the most powerful warlord on Tuchanka, was on the SR1 with me. He's started to unite the Krogan clans under his banner and encourage stability and rebuilding. If he can claim to have undone the genophage it'll stabilize his leadership and give us an ally against the Reapers we desperately need."

"Are you sure we can trust this Wrex? I can't be a part of this Shepard, nor can the Alliance, not publicly at least. The last thing we need is to have the Council accusing us of trying to start a coup using the Krogan. That said, I've put together a fund for you with some of the other Fleet Admirals, I'll give you access to it for this and other projects you'll want to pursue. It isn't much, it's hard to hide things from the parliament for very long, but it is something. I don't want to hear about this Krogan project again before the Reapers arrive."

"You do believe me then, that the Reapers are coming?"

"I can't afford not to, and my talks with Kenson proved it to me. I'm an ally Shepard, if you need something, let me know. Are the Prothean artifacts you've been collecting in the hold?" Shepard nodded, "I'll have a dock team come collect them and take them back to Earth for study, we need all the help we can get." Hackett stood, shook Shepard's hand, and quickly departed the room. Collecting his aide, a Colonel Coates, he returned to the Command deck to to depart the Normandy and return to the Fifth fleet.

Shepard stayed in the lounge for a while, thinking. He felt good he was done chasing pirates and mercenaries for ancient artifacts, he had allies in the Alliance, and he had some funding with which to start Mordin's project. He looked out the window to the void, pure black with brilliant dots of light, scorching hot clouds of gas trillions of miles away. Seeing space like that, so massive and empty, put in perspective how lonely he was. Even with all the species and individuals he's encountered in his missions, there were dozens of species he'd never met and trillions of people he'd never know.

He had died for them once in the cold blackness of space as the air was sucked from his lungs and his vision blurred from the water in his eyes freezing. He had chosen to let Kaiden Alenko, his friend, die on the surface of Virmire to protect them. He watched his best friend, Garrus Vakarian, take a missile to his face defending people he never knew from violent thugs. He looked out the window and wondered why he did it, why he kept struggling, why he felt it was his burden.

In his heart he knew it didn't matter why. He would die for them again if he had to.


	3. In thought

**SR2 Normandy - Mordin Solus**

Mordin Solus had, for most of his life, never thought himself a figure of great consequence. He knew his work on the genophage could have been completed by another. The modification may have taken longer and been more expensive without him, but he knew that the Salarian Union would have completed the project. They had been responsible for uplifting the Krogan and then for crippling the species. The common belief in the Union was that if the Krogan rose again the Salarians may possibly survive as a delicacy. The STG could not allow the Krogan birthrate to increase.

His short retirement on Omega was even less likely to leave a lasting impact, he had done a great deal of good work, healed the sick, stopped a plague, and created a small bubble of security and safety in what was otherwise a war zone for murderous slavers and violent mercenaries, but he knew it wouldn't last.

He was sure it was only a matter of time until Daniel, his assistant who had taken over the clinic, encountered some problem that would force the clinic to shut down. Without the clinic's mech force in the middle of the district, the Blue Suns and the Vorcha would restart their civil war and the people of Omega would be caught in between to be slaughtered or enslaved. It was depressing, but the likely outcome of Omega's political and social tensions. With that as the outcome of his final project, what then would the legacy of Mordin Solus be?

Mordin sat up and returned to his work, he was using the data he had saved from Maelon's work to run computer simulations testing death rates from early genophage cure theories he had. With the work he was doing here he could reduce the risk of permanent damage to subjects when he progressed to clinical testing of Krogan females. As EDI ran his simulations he mentally compartmentalized his work and returned to his thoughts.

His work on the Collector mission eliminated any concern he had over his legacy. He had been central to a mission that had, without a doubt, saved billions of lives, and quite possibly the entire galaxy. The Professor had never felt so productive in his life, he had never felt so useful as when he was desperately working against the clock to come up with countermeasures for the Swarmers. There was period after the genophage project where he believed he had done great work for the galaxy, but it took him only months to have his regrets, both over the project's morality and his real contribution to it. In contrast, he knew he would not regret his work against the Collectors. There were fewer ethical dilemmas and no doubt as to his central role in the mission.

The opportunity to undo what he now saw to be a mistake, his work on the Krogan genophage, to undue his neutering of an entire species, made him shudder with anticipation. Not only could he do work that he was uniquely qualified for, but he could once again make a mark on the galaxy that would be remembered for millennia…assuming Shepard beat the Reapers.

Mordin paused his work at the thought of the Reapers and returned his full consciousness to thought. The history of millions of cycles implied that the Commander would fail in his effort, that even Commander Shepard, the greatest hero in galactic memory, could not succeed. Yet, Mordin felt an irrational urge to discard data and empirical evidence when it came to Shepard. He was the first of trillions of beings in this cycle to come back from death, he had defeated Reapers before, and he had a force of will greater than any other human, any other sentient being really, could match. Data that could normally accurately predict outcomes with stunning precision simply failed to apply to the man. No, this cycle was not a foregone conclusion. It would be a challenge, but Mordin would work till his death to secure victory. He was the model of a scientist Salarian, he wouldn't rest until his work was done. With that thought, Mordin dismissed his daydreaming and went back to work on his simulations. If these went well he would check the list of equipment he needed for his work for a fourth time before he joined Shepard on the Citadel to make the purchases.

 **SR2 Normandy - Garrus Vakarian**

Shepard had been acting differently since the ship returned from beyond the Omega 4 relay. He laughed, sang, and drank like the rest of them (which, while entirely different from before, when Shepard refused to drink at all, was not the cause of Garrus' worry). Garrus' worry was that Shepard was lost. For the first time since he has known him, Shepard was a man without a goal, without a target to pursue. They'd spent the entire early portion of their friendship chasing down Saren, from Feros, to Noveria, to Virmire, and finally to Illium and the Citadel. Shepard had been a man on a mission, driven like no one else he had ever met to solve the problems of the galaxy. More telling about the man was his willingness, at every moment, to stop and pause everything to help someone in need. A Quarian was being harassed by C-Sec and a Volus? Of course he had time. A Batarian was dying of plague and cursing humanity? The Commander took the time to stop, use his own Medi-gel to heal him, and then remember to report to Mordin where he was so that a crew could be sent to retrieve the plague ridden man.

Garrus shook his head as he stepped out of the main battery into the much cooler hallway leading to the main portion of the crew deck. He paused for a moment and allowed the cool air to wash over him. He knew he had spent too much time calibrating that damn gun the last few weeks, he was overheating in the room. He didn't regret it though, firing the Thanix during the assault on the Collector base had thrown the gun out of alignment. With the information he had from its use in combat he could calibrate it properly and it would run perfectly for future missions. Garrus turned toward the crew deck, gave Gardner a wave as he passed him chopping his onions, and pulled aside the decidedly human chair at the table in the center of the deck and took a seat.

He returned to his thoughts. Shepard had the same drive against the Collectors as he had for Saren. He had built his team, made them friends, upgraded the ship, and launched through the Omega 4. The Commander hadn't lost any people on the other side, not one, but he had somehow come back lost anyway. He was a man without a purpose. Garrus glanced up to see Shepard rounding the corner away from the elevator and head into the Med-bay. He and Chakras spoke for a moment before he hit the button and the door lifted open again, the Commander turned toward the table, and waved Garrus to his side as he rounded the table and returned to the elevator. Garrus jumped up and followed him in. "Shepard, I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Can it wait a little bit Garrus? I'm a little frazzled at the moment, I finally have a mission for us to work on again."

"No no, that's exactly what I was going to suggest. You had just seemed…distant, like your heart wasn't in the work that we were doing."

"I agree completely, I don't feel right shooting pirates when the Reapers are burning rubber to get here." Shepard slumped back agains the wall of the elevator, "I need to be doing more, changing the dynamic, getting the galaxy ready for the coming war. On that note, after seeing what Wrex is doing with the Krogan on Tuchanka, do you still think the genophage is necessary? I want a Turian opinion."

Garrus' mouth fell open in shock, he knew Shepard was an audacious bastard, but he never thought he would think about curing the genophage. The casual way he dropped the question didn't halve either. He knew that was what the question was about, Shepard didn't speak in hypotheticals. Archangel looked down at his feet. He had been on Tuchanka with Shepard, been a part of Grunt's krannt when he completed his rite or whatever the hell it was called. He had stormed the Weyrloc base and helped rescue Maelon, Mordin's former assistant who had traveled to Tuchanka voluntarily to work on a cure for the genophage. Maelon had felt that the genophage was wrong and unfair to the Krogan. Even after all those hours together in the Tuchankan filth, he hadn't known Shepard felt the same way as the arrogant Salarian they had found working for the Weyrlocs. Garrus thought harder, Wrex had been a true friend, and when Shepard had died he immediately went to work rebuilding his race. He hadn't gone rogue like Garrus or plodded along as if the mission had never happened like Tali, he kept fighting for Shepard's legacy.

The Turian in him rebelled against the idea that the Krogan race could be peaceful however. Ingrained from his childhood, all the way through boot camp and his time at C-Sec, was the idea that the remaining Krogan were no better than thugs. The Krogan had never been deep thinking intellectuals, but what remained of the race was cold, violent, and doomed to a slow death as much from the genophage as their own unwillingness to unite and rebuild what was left of their culture. Garrus shook the idea away, he had seen the Krogan begin to change, and without armies of the tank-like lizards they would have no chance against armies of husks and scions. He looked up at Shepard, "Every part of me wants to say that the Krogan can't change, but Wrex is different, and I _saw_ the beginning of something different. I'm reluctant to say that we should change the status quo, but I will. The Krogan deserve a second chance."

Shepard smiled and patted him on the back, "We're headed to the Citadel, think you can point Mordin and I to the best medical equipment suppliers?"

"Of course Shepard, but if this goes to hell it was your idea, I take no responsibility for the second Krogan rebellions. Just saying in advance."

With that, the two of them stepped out of the elevator and onto the Command deck, Kelly whirled around and was about to say something to Shepard when his voice boomed out across the deck, "EDI, have Joker plot us a course to the Citadel. It's time we get back to work."


	4. Return to the Council

Hey everyone, thank you to all of you who have read through three chapters to get here. I hope to keep up this pace after Wednesday, but I really should take care of some other things. Still, I'll keep working. Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter, this is the first one I really thought felt complete. It's a bit longer too, which is what to do as the story moves forward. I would really appreciate a few reviews, since this is my first story and I would welcome the advice. With that said, let's see how the Citadel responds to a post ME2 Shepard.

—

 **The Presidium - Shepard**

Stepping out of the aircar that had taken them from the dock to Tayseri Ward Shepard took a deep breath. It had been too long since he had gotten any fresh air, and the Citadel was as close to natural fresh air as he had since leaving Illium last. Not that the Illium sky was terribly clean itself, but it beat the stale recirculated air of a warship.

As Mordin and Garrus stepped out of the car behind him, the door closed and the car rose into the sky with a whoosh before speeding off to pick up the next paying customer. It all happened in a moment. It was another representation of the automation of everyday life, how people plugged through their day without giving a thought to the bigger picture. He shook his head. Maybe he was just bitching that no one listened to his claims about the Reapers. Then again perhaps it was his fault that he hadn't been a good enough communicator. "Garrus, lead the way, you said Canna Insights was the place to go for the best prices?"

"Yeah, they're generally cheaper than the competition. I will say that they had a tendency to come up in investigations of shipments stolen from larger manufacturers, but our priority is getting what we need, and we have a limited budget right?"

Mordin, who'd been distracted by a billboard advertising the 'exciting' nightlife of Omega snapped into focus, "Don't care where equipment is from, can see if it works."

Garrus led them over to a barren and plain storefront. The human behind the waist-high desk looked excited as he saw possible customers approaching, but jaded the moment he spotted Garrus amongst the three. As they crossed the threshold and entered the store the man sneered, "What happened to your face Vakarian? Last time you came to lock me up you were prettier to look at."

"Shut it Hux, I haven't been in C-Sec for two and a half years. My friends and I are looking to purchase some genetic splicing equipment and I know you guys are cheaper than the competition." Garrus smiled as he finished, "Shepard here is a Spectre, so try not to piss him off."

Seeing fear flash in the man's eyes Shepard leaned in over the counter and got uncomfortably close to Hux's face, "I don't enjoy causing other people pain, but we're here for something rather important. You really don't want to try and screw us."

Hux nearly fell over backward from fear. He managed to stammer out "You can have the equipment at our cost, just let me get out our catalogue." He reached under the counter and handed a datapad over to Shepard who passed it to Mordin.

It took Mordin all of thirty seconds to select the equipment he needed. Shepard payed for it and Hux let him know that the machinery would be delivered to the Normandy within the hour. Shepard noted that the price wasn't terrible, he'd only had to spend a couple hundred thousand credits. He had even managed to avoid dipping into Hackett's fund. He knew he would have to eventually, but he appreciated not tying the Alliance to Mordin's work on the genophage. "Mordin, once we're done meeting with the council I want you to head back to the ship and oversee the delivery. We can't afford any screw-ups here, our timetable is pretty strict on this."

"You want me to join you with the council Shepard?"

"I want you and Garrus both, it's about time we convinced them that they need to pull their weight. Do you still have all the data from the mission to the Collector Base? The video feeds too?"

"Of course Shepard, Omni-Tool has plenty of storage."

Shepard activated his omni-tool and placed a call to the Normandy, "EDI, can you have Samara and Tali meet us at the Council chamber? I'm going to need their help convincing the council that they screwed up again." Shepard heard EDI acknowledge his request and lowered his arm, deactivating his omni-tool. He looked around Tayseri Ward, out the window rubble from where Sovereign had attacked the Citadel was still visible, crews equipped with small spacecraft and cranes were removing piles of steel and concrete and replacing it with the foundations of new buildings and skyscrapers.

The lobby he was in was still bare, it was clear that the store was in a new structure, not yet decorated with the modern art and neon lights all too common in the shopping areas of the wards. He sighed, the wreckage from his first battle against the Reapers hadn't even been cleared before the final one was poised to begin. Shepard felt it a waste, what was the point of cleaning up the ward if it was almost certainly the site of future battles? Battles that would no doubt come soon. He shrugged, the decision wasn't his and perhaps by making his findings about the Collectors public he could finally force the Council to shift their mindset to one preparing for the coming war. He snorted, if only he could be so lucky.

 **The Presidium - Tali'Zorah vas Normandy**

She couldn't believe it, she was going with Shepard to see the council again. This was her third time up to the Council chamber. The first was to reveal her information on Saren; she could still remember looking around the huge room in awe as she and Shepard climbed the hundreds of steps up to the podium they ended up speaking from. She had been amazed by the fountains all over the room, the balconies looking down on them, the plant life in various pots, and the large window into space behind the Councilors.

The Quarian people had a few auditoriums in the fleet capable of holding one or two hundred captains at once while the Admiralty board held meetings to determine the next system the fleet would jump to. She could remember sitting in the front row, crammed between senior captains in the fleet on the small narrow bench as her father and Aunt Raan debated with Koris and Xen as to what worlds held the best prospects of containing valuable and desperately needed resources. The captains would mutter under their breath in agreement or disagreement with one side or the other before the vote was held that determined their course of action. She was always thrilled when her father or Raan won the debate, and remembered being saddened when they lost the vote.

There were certainly times where the vote had picked wrong, when systems they traveled to didn't have the needed resources. Rations would be cut, children would go hungry, and the hours everyone on the fleet had to work would be longer. In 200 plus years on the move the fleet had gotten better than any company in the galaxy at predicting which systems had the most plentiful and accessible resources, but predictions were never perfect and mistakes were far too costly.

As she climbed the stairs again, on her way to the seat of power in the galaxy, she felt none of the same awe that she had that first time. These were useless politicians who sat on the rear ends while Shepard and his allies bled and died for their lives! And Shepard had barely gotten a thank you before they wrote him off for dead and abandoned his mission to stop the Reapers. These people she was going to meet weren't the all powerful leaders she imagined she was meeting that first time, nor were they the thankful vanguards of democracy they appeared as when they gave Shepard, Garrus, and her medals for defeating Saren. These were politicians who didn't deserve the effort Shepard had given them.

But he needed her help, so she was there climbing these blasted steps for him.

Shepard reached the podium first while Samara, Garrus, Mordin, and her were quick to follow. Looking down upon them from the rebuilt Council chambers was the council. Three of them held the same faces that had looked at her curiously years prior, as if they were trying to figure out how a Quarian had snuck into their opulent throne room. Valern, Sparatus, and Tevos looked at the Commander's team…not with open hostility, but something resembling it. It was almost as if they knew that the Commander was there with enough evidence to blow the status quo they had so carefully crafted to pieces. In heavy contrast, David Anderson, the human councilor, had a generous smile on his face as he welcomed the Commander, "Shepard, what can we do for you today? You requested a meeting without giving terribly many details. As a friend, I welcome you, but my partners here on the Council are a little less excited to be pulled away from their other duties."

Tevos stepped forward, "I hope you're not wasting our time Commander. We received news that a ship was spotted returning from the Omega 4 relay. Given what you requested before, is it safe to assume that was you?"

"It is councilor. We traveled through the Omega 4 relay, fought the Collectors, destroyed their dreadnaught, and detonated a neutron pulse aboard their base. We killed all of them. But what we did matters far less than what we found. The Collectors are husked Protheans, they were capturing colonists for the Reapers so that they could melt them down and turn them into a 'human' Reaper." Shepard made a gesture she recognized as human air quotes before continuing, "We destroyed it."

There was a stunned silence in the council chamber, those who had been there with Shepard, who had watched colonists turn into goo as nanotech ripped apart cell membranes and disintegrated bones looked down at their feet as the council's mouths hung open. Sparatus, likely from his his previously experiencing the horror of war, was the first to speak, "Commander, I assume you brought proof of your endeavor. We aren't simply going to change our toon when the stories you tell get worse."

"And that Councilor is why we are here today. I made sure my crew was equipped with camera equipment on all of our missions. The Normandy recorded data on both the base and the Collector dreadnaught, and we brought back samples of Collector tissue proving genetic ties to the Protheans. I have footage of a reaper, a ship millions of years old identical to Sovereign, that we boarded."

Sparatus frowned and Valern, appearing unsteady on his feet stepped forward, "Professor Solus, you are a respected mind and a legendary figure among the scientific community. Is Shepard correct?" Mordin looked down and nodded before playing footage from the Reaper orbiting Mnemosyne. The Councilors shook their head as the cameras aboard the Normandy panned over a ship that appeared to by a mirror image of Sovereign.

Tevos didn't move, but rather looking directly at Samara, quietly responded to the images before her, "Justicar, you would swear that what Shepard says is the truth as you know it?"

"Councilor, in my time as a Justicar I have met no greater foe than those Shepard has battled against and met no man of nobler purpose. He had my oath through his mission across the Omega 4, and he will have it again in whatever he chooses to pursue."

Anderson, seeing that none of his compatriots were ready to speak after the shock they had experienced, took the moment to step forward, nodding to the other councilors, "I believe that if you transfer the data to the council for verification we can certify the veracity of your claims. For now, you have our support, and assuming everything in the record corroborates your claims, the Council will accept your recommendations on what must be done to prepare for the Reapers."

"We need to take action to unify the disparate elements of the galaxy before they arrive, a galaxy divided against itself cannot hope to prevail. I propose the Council opens a dialogue with the various species in the Terminus that lack embassies on the Council, we need to gather all the allies we can. Additionally, if we're to succeed at driving back enormous synthetic dreadnaughts we're going to need Quarian help. They have both the best AI experts in the galaxy and the largest fleet. If the council allows them to settle a planet, that fleet can be repurposed for the coming conflict. Tali'Zorah here is the daughter of former Admiral Rael Zorah and can reach out to the Migrant Fleet on the Council's behalf."

Shepard cleared his throat and paused. The council looked at him expectantly, they seemed open enough to his first pair of proposals. Tali was surprised that 200 years of disdain toward the Quarians could be turned around so easily but she supposed the decision made sense, the Quarian people were no real threat to the balance of power as it stood.

After another moment Shepard continued, "I want you to at least contemplate reducing the potency of the genophage. We saw how useful the Krogan were against the Rachni, and we may need to call upon them again against husks and other Reaper forces." He held up a hand as a furious Valern attempted to interrupt him. "I only ask for the council to consider that last idea, I know the political cost to you and internal the political turmoil it could cause."

Despite Valern turning a very non-Salarian shade of red it was Sparatus that spoke next, "The first two propositions make sense, we're willing to select a planet for the Quarians and send diplomats into the Terminus Systems. The Krogan issue will need further discussion. We will contact you about it when we have completed our efforts with the Quarians." Sparatus turned and began walking toward his office, closely followed by Valern and Tevos. Anderson took another look back, waved to Shepard, and followed the other Councilors off the platform.

Tali knew they were being dismissed but struggled to move, even after being left behind on the podium by Shepard and the others. The council was granting her people a new home! Shepard had done it! She finally gathered the sense to hurry down the steps after Shepard and embrace him. "Thank you Shepard! You have no idea what this means to me!"

"Tali, we'll work with the Geth to get your people back on Rannoch, I can only hope this suffices for now."

"Of course it does you Bosh'tet. We have a place to stay now, and what will hopefully be a home someday soon."

As the team left the council chamber and returned to the Presidium he turned to face her, "You can contact the Admiralty board and let them know. It seems fitting the woman they nearly exiled take credit for ending their species' homelessness and exile from the galactic community."

As the five of them climbed into an aircar to return to the Normandy, Tali cried tears of joy for the first time since discovering Shepard was alive back on Freedom's progress. The man who had saved the galaxy by her side was showing the Quarian people a compassion no one else in the galaxy had in hundreds of years, and she felt some small sliver of pride that without her it probably wouldn't have happened. She may serve on a human ship, but she had done more for Flotilla than any living Quarian could claim.


	5. Departure

Hey Everyone, I should totally not be writing right now…but I can't help myself. It's a super short chapter because I totally shouldn't be writing right now, but hey, hopefully you aren't complaining. If you like these later chapters more or less than the first couple let me know. I'm curious what you guys prefer.

 **SR2 Normandy - Tali'Zorah**

Sitting in the core room, leaning up against the railing in front of the massively oversized Tantalus core that was the heart of the SR2, Tali felt overwhelmed. She had been exchanging messages back and forth with Council diplomats for a few hours now about the Quarian resettlement on a newly discovered planet in the Exodus cluster. It was in the newly named 'Olympus System'. The planet was in Alliance territory, but being a dextro planet it had been given to the Turians and was as of yet, unnamed. While official Citadel policy toward the Quarians had changed because of Shepard and the Reapers, the concealed hostility she was getting from the Asari and Salarian diplomats was no different than what she had spent the last few years experiencing from outsiders. It was frustrating to say the least. Nevertheless, she would take all the diplomats were willing to give the Fleet.

She was thrilled with her peoples' change in fortune, but unsure if she was qualified to handle the communications between the Citadel and the flotilla. She was trying to make the call to the Migrant Fleet now, but couldn't bring herself to. She still felt isolated from her people. She loved and was still talking to her Aunt Raan, and had exchanged messages with Kal'Reegar, but the rest of the Admiralty board remained distant. She wasn't sure who had been elected to replace her father, but they hadn't reached out to her, and no one other than Raan had apologized for the Board's attempt to exile her. She didn't know how she intended to tell the Board or anyone else about what happened, or how she should respond if they refused and became fixated on taking Rannoch, she didn't know what to do.

She heard the doors to the core room open and looked up to see Shepard walk in. Concern was etched onto his face. Humans were so easy to read. His trademark smile was missing and his gait was slower than usual. When he reached her he eased himself down next to her, not quite touching, but close. They sat together and stared at the blank gray wall for what seemed like an eternity, but her in helmet HUD told her that it was only a handful of minutes. He finally spoke, "I take it you haven't called the Admiralty Board yet?"

Tali paused as her voice caught in her throat, "I'm not sure what I'll say. What if they don't take my call? Or they refuse the planet and want to attack the Geth? Or what if…" Shepard cut her off.

"Raan will make sure they take your call, and even if they do want to retake Rannoch, this is an opportunity for your people to rest, if only for a bit, before they make their push. I would be shocked if anyone on the board, even Gerrel opposes settling this planet. Just let them know that they've been given the planet, condition free."

Tali shook her head, "You make it sound simple, but you don't understand. There are hundreds of years of ill will and politics that will intersect with their response!"

"Let it, they'll come to the right decision eventually. And, if not, then we can go shame them into it again right?"

"I guess, Keelah, I just can't believe this is actually happening."

"I can barely believe it, but this is a great day. Don't let your nerves get in the way Tali." Shepard stood up with his goofy grin once again attached to his face. He began to pat her on the back, but stopped and just gave her a hug. He smiled one last time before turning around and leaving the Core. Tali could hear his footsteps echo through engineering as he made his way back to the elevator. She felt infinitely better than she had before Shepard had come in, but she was still nervous.

Her fears had diminished but still gnawed at the back of her mind. She shook the thoughts away, Shepard was right, and she had to do this. She opened her Omni-tool and entered the number. This was a call she had been waiting her entire life to make. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard someone pick up on the other end of the line.

"Auntie Raan? It's me Tali, there's something that we need to discuss. Shepard…"

 **SR2 Normandy - Shepard**

Shepard entered the CIC hoping his conversation with Tali had made her feel at least a bit better; somehow he knew she would do the right thing in the end. She was tough. Tali had been with him from the very beginning, and she was among his dearest friends. She would make the call, and while he couldn't predict how the Admiralty Board would react to the gift they had been given, he figured they wouldn't totally squander it.

He stepped up to the Galaxy Map at the center of the CIC and ordered, "Joker, EDI, set a course for Tuchanka and make it snappy. We've got a Krogan warlord to visit." Almost immediately he could feel the ship turning under him as Joker took the SR2 away from the Citadel and toward the Widow relay. It would only be a few more hours until they made it to Tuchanka. Ideally, he would have contacted Wrex before they headed in to see him, but he was in a hurry. Shepard knew that after his request of the council, that they revisit the genophage issue, it was only a matter of time until the politicians figured out that he had purchased a large amount of bio-engineering equipment. That wasn't to even mention that the Normandy would easily be identified heading to Tuchanka, either by intelligence officials following their course across the relay network or by Citadel fleet officers watching the Krogan DMZ.

In the end he had figured the effort of hiding his goal wasn't worth it. He hoped the council would find in favor of his proposition before they found out that he was going to cure the genophage whether or not the agreed. If they didn't…it wasn't like they were going to invade Tuchanka to stop Mordin. Probably. Shepard stepped down from the platform overlooking the map and entered the elevator to head back up to his cabin, "EDI, wake me up when we enter the Tuchankan system. I'm going to try and get some shuteye before I have to go and wrestle some stupid young Krogan."

"Of course Commander, is there anyone you would like to prepare to join you on the ground?"

"If you would alert Grunt and Mordin that they'll be accompanying me to see Wrex I would appreciate it. I will speak to you when we're in system EDI."

Shepard stripped down and entered the shower. If the meeting went well and Wrex agreed to set Mordin up with a secure location, as Shepard expected him to, he would need to be ready to search for whatever assistants or tech Mordin would need. But he also may need to meet with the Admiralty board to negotiate their settlement in the Olympus system, and on top of that he had little doubt that both Hackett and the Council had missions they would like him to complete. _All of that_ was on top of the fact he had royally pissed off the Illusive Man as well, and Shepard had little doubt that the leader of Cerberus had taken his tantrum after the Collector mission poorly. All he could hope for in an ideal world was that cyborg eye guy was willing to take a breath and work with Shepard on more even terms.

Shepard exited the shower, dried himself, crossed the room walking barefoot on the cold metal floor before falling onto his bed. He had so much to accomplish in what he knew wouldn't be enough time. He eventually settled on making sure the Genophage was dealt with first, and, barring any shocking news from the other fronts, he would take on the Quarian - Geth conflict next. If he managed to resolve those two disputes it would make his life infinitely easier when the Reapers arrived. He could practically imagine a Krogan and Geth army crashing against rank after rank of husks as if they were nothing.

Shepard fell asleep content that he had gotten himself back on track. He couldn't imagine allowing himself to waste away doing practically nothing to prepare for the Reapers in the little time they had left to prepare. It would have been uncharacteristic of him.


	6. Twists

I am being so so irresponsible, but here's another chapter. Hopefully you appreciate the action:

 **SR2 Normandy - Joker**

The Normandy came out of the relay within meters of Joker's target, it was a near perfect jump and ranked among the best of Joker's career. His accuracy didn't mean much beyond the ship not plowing into the star or a planet in system however, as the Normandy's rapid deceleration from FTL, along with the relay's activation, left them visible on scanners across the system. Normally such an appearance wouldn't have caught anyone's attention, but as Joker prepared to engage the primary engines and accelerate toward the Krogan home world, a glowing yellow beam of molten tungsten emerged from behind the nearby asteroid belt and tore through space toward his ship. Joker jerked the Normandy to the side at the last moment as the unknown enemy's Thanix tore through the SR2's shields and turned the Silaris armor they had installed a few months earlier red hot as it skimmed the armor plate at the top of the ship. Joker, shocked and already scanning his console to determine the damage yelled, "Engaging evasive maneuvers, everyone better strap the hell down!"

Moments later EDI's voice rang through the ship, "Engaging cyber-warfare suite, we appear to have engaged a collector vessel. I will be temporarily unavailable."

"No shit we're dealing with the Collectors!"

At that moment Shepard, who must have engaged his armor's mag boots so that he could remain standing while Joker made the Normandy dodge and weave, sprinted up to the cockpit, no doubt to bother him with stupid questions, "Joker, what the hell is going on?" Yep, stupid question, Shepard could be so predictable.

"They caught us coming out of the relay, not much we could do to avoid them. I'm going to get us some space in the asteroid belt. If I can I'll turn us around and line up a shot. Now if you don't mind I am _more than a little occupied here_." Joker spun the controls hard right as he dodged another crater pitted asteroid. He could practically hear the still shiny silver-gray hull of the Normandy scraping against the ancient rock as they whizzed by at thousands of kilometers an hour. Combat was hardly any physically different from the simulations he had in flight school, but the emotional side of combat was always the hard part. Despite his wise cracks and jokes he knew the lives of the entire crew: Garrus, Shepard, Tali, hell, even EDI were in his hands. He muttered under his breath quietly enough that only he could hear, "I hope to God that damn Turian has the Thanix ready." Joker waited just another instant for the Collector vessel to become trapped in a pocket between the three primary asteroids in the local area of the asteroid belt. Just as he expected, they had to shut down their engines to avoid colliding with any of them. They had followed Joker into a trap. He wasn't sure if they fell for it because they were occupied dealing with EDI's intrusion into their computer systems or because they were in a region of space that their pilot wasn't familiar with, but right then he didn't care a whole lot.

At that moment Joker struck. He pushed the ship into a hard dive around the largest rock in system, an asteroid that may have been a dwarf planet due to it's unusual size, the Collector's yellow Thanix followed their turn but the moon-sized asteroid shielded the already damaged frigate and the beam disappeared along with the collector vessel on the other side of the object. Joker took a deep breath and pushed the engines past recommended maximum thrust as they turned the corner. The instant he spotted the collector vessel's ugly hull emerge over the horizon he slammed his hand down on the Thanix trigger and heard at least two bones in his right hand snap from the impact.

The molten metal shot out of the Normandy like a cannon and careened at near light speed toward the collector vessel. For a brief moment it looked like the bugs' shields would hold as the beam halted its advance through space. Joker's heart skipped a beat as he wondered for the briefest of instants if he had killed everyone aboard. Before he could take another breath though, the beam pushed forward again, tearing through the armor at the rear of the ship and causing explosions to shoot out of the engines. It was poor aim on his part, he hadn't taken time to line the ship up properly and he missed the front of the enemy, but the vessel's engines were literally exploding and Joker knew they wouldn't be moving anytime soon. If they couldn't move they wouldn't be able to line up a successful shot on the Normandy and the crew, his friends, would be safe. Joker moved to turn around and look at the Commander, but his right arm failed him under the pressure and he grimaced as pain shot up from his broken hand. He had forgotten about that. Chakwas was going to have a field day 'admonishing him for his recklessness'.

EDI took that moment to return, "I have shut down the Collector vessel's guidance system and the Thanix burst Joker fired caused a runaway electric discharge in their engines. The Collector vessel is immobilized and venting atmosphere. It is unlikely Collectors have survived. However, if there is Reaper control of the vessel, they may be able to fire directly ahead."

The commander looked up at the blue hologram that had appeared next to Joker, "What kind of damage did we take?"

"We appear to have sustained only superficial damage. Deck 1 was also shock heated by the Collector's primary weapon. I diverted all heat to your fish tank Commander. Your belongings may be damaged by the steam. I am sorry for any damage that may have been done."

Shepard grimaced, "That's fine EDI, those are more than acceptable losses. We need to figure out where the hell these Collectors came from and if there are any more of them. God help us if there's another base we have to take out."

Joker couldn't help himself, he grinned through the pain from his throbbing hand and looked up at Shepard, "Fish Tacos tonight Commander?"

Shepard looked at him with what resembled a half-smile. Joker couldn't help himself from laughing at his own joke. He broke his hand, had his baby scorched by enemies, but they'd pulled through, he'd kept his friends safe. That was what mattered.

 **SR2 Normandy - Shepard**

He couldn't believe it. They had gone through the Omega 4, risked everything, and there were still Collectors doing who knows what in the Krogan DMZ. He paused and sat down an empty seat between the bridge and CIC, dropping his head into his hands he released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Shepard looked around at his crew staring at him, he put on a show of bravado he wasn't feeling and gave them a smile, "Down goes number two, can't imagine there'll be any more collectors coming after us now." There were a few chuckles from his people as he pulled himself out of the seat and up onto the grate of the walkway.

He walked down the hall, through the CIC and went up to his room. Like EDI had promised, it was a terrible mess. Half of his model ships had fallen off their racks onto either the couch or his desk, various documents he had sitting on the desk were littered all around the room and were completely soaked, and there were dead fish scattered across the floor. As he approached the bed he saw that his stereo had been ruined and, great, there was a dead catfish on his pillow. Just great.

Shepard picked up the steaming hot fish, tossed it onto the floor, and jumped onto the squishy water soaked mattress. The mattress groaned under the weight of his armored body and emitted a hiss as excess water was evacuated from the foam. He looked the wall opposite the tank wondering if he was headed in the right direction with his plans. He had been certain less than an hour ago that he was doing everything right, now he wasn't so sure. If the Collectors were still out there he might need to put off his other work and finish them off. He couldn't be caught taking care of ten things at once, he couldn't spread himself and his team thin like that. At the same time, he couldn't put off the genophage work or his peacekeeping mission to the Migrant Fleet without risking the failure of one or both of those goals.

He was caught between a rock and a hard place. He could risk the possibility of future Collector attacks or put off his current work. Neither decision was remotely where he wanted to be. At that moment EDI chose to interrupt his thoughts, "Commander, the Collector vessel has ejected no escape pods but has stopped venting atmosphere. The most likely explanation is that the Collectors managed to seal off bulkheads surrounding the breach. The ship will remain immobilized however."

"EDI, has the council listening post reported the Collector ship to the Council?"

"I have detected no signals emerging from the listening post since we entered the system Commander. It is possible the Collector's assaulted the post before we arrived in system and were attempting to depart when we appeared."

That was strange. Why would the Collectors have attacked the listening post? There probably hadn't been any humans aboard and Shepard found it unlikely the Collectors were harvesting any other species. Humans were recognized for their genetic diversity, that was why he had assumed they were targeted in the first place, and no other species that would have had troops on that station had complained of assaults on their colonies. "Have Anderson tell the Council that we detected a Collector ship in orbit over Tuchanka and entered the system in pursuit of it. If we can keep our genophage plans here secret I want to. Let them know the ship is disabled and that they should prepare a boarding team to assault the remaining Collectors. Forward Mordin's data on the Swarmers and his counter-measure designs as well."

"Of course Commander."

"And have Grunt, Garrus, and Legion arm up and meet me at the Kodiak. I want to have a look at the Council listening post. Can you have Joker plot a course?"

"I've let him know, signing you out."

Shepard stood up and walked over to his desk. He was able to turn on his computer despite a layer of condensation on the monitor. He was also pleased to see his inbox remained empty. He stepped over some papers and a model Quarian liveship and out of the room. He immediately noticed the lack of a fishy smell in the air and took a deep breath of the fresher air before descending to the cargo bay in the elevator. Not five seconds after the doors opened he saw Grunt smelling the air, "Hey, who brought fish onto the ship?"

Shepard remained silent as he picked up his weapons from the shelf he had had Taylor install next to the door. Having the armory on the same deck as the CIC made no sense at all, Cerberus did a lot of things right, practical design of warships was not one of them. He crossed the bay and was about to climb into the Kodiak when Grunt leaned over and sniffed at him. Shepard pushed him away but wasn't in time to prevent Grunt from getting a smell. He cursed loudly when he realized what was coming.

"Shepard, why do you smell like a fish man? Have you been hiding food from us?"

Shepard looked around the Kodiak at Garrus and Legion. One was a member of a dextro species who couldn't eat any of the same food as he and Grunt and the other was a synthetic who didn't eat anything all all. Neither looked terribly interested in Grunt's loud question but Garrus gave him a raised eyebrow while reclining on the brown synthetic leather seat of the shuttle. "Grunt, the fish in my cabin were killed during the attack. A few ended up on my bed and I was lying down." Shepard fearfully awaited how Grunt would respond.

"Can somebody save them for when we get back? I will be hungry and have never had fish before."

Shepard was reminded of the strange Krogan he had met years earlier interested in fish on the Presidium, he had broken that one's heart when he told him there weren't actually fish in the lakes. He shrugged, he'd almost forgotten that Grunt was so young and inexperienced, "EDI, send someone up to collect my fish and put them in the fridge for Grunt."

"Of course Shepard, I will have Engineer Donnelly take care of it."

Grunt grinned at him, "Thank you fish-Shepard. I appreciate it."

Shepard groaned at the nickname and Garrus began chuckling as the shuttle took off for the outpost.


	7. The Overwatch

**Kodiak Approaching the Council Overwatch - Garrus Vakarian**

The Kodiak slowly approached the large space station hanging over the brown sphere of the Krogan homeworld Tuchanka. The facility was dark, the few visible exterior windows failed to leak any light from the inside, and Garrus struggled to see in and gather a glimpse of what had happened to the Council's peacekeeping force. Garrus heard the quiet sound of Shepard's breathing to one side, and had felt Grunt, moments earlier, push him to the side as he struggled to get a glimpse of what had happened to the guards tasked with watching his people.

The closer the Kodiak came to the primary hanger of the station, the more apprehensive Garrus became. He didn't know exactly how many troops the Council had left to watch over the slow death of the Krogan race, but he knew they numbered in the tens of thousands. For the collectors to wipe out so many? It was hard to believe, but the evidence was in front of him. Shepard attempted to radio the station for the fourth time, "Council Overwatch this is Commander Shepard of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, do you read?" He waited a moment before repeating the same words, "Council Overwatch this is Commander Shepard of Special Tacts and Reconnaissance, do you read?"

Grunt waited a moment to make sure the Commander was done before complaining, "There's no one there. Let's go in and beat down anyone who stops us." Garrus shook his head at the young Krogan's eagerness.

Shepard nodded once in acknowledgement, "Just don't shoot anything that doesn't shoot first alright?"

They touched down in an empty hanger. Weapons raised, they made it halfway to the door into the next room before pausing. There were a couple of other ships, both larger than the Kodiak. From their rather simple design Garrus discerned that they were freighters. Both had left loading ramps down and possessed cargo in various states of loading and unloading, a few boxes seemed to have been dropped in the middle of the floor and their contents was scattered for meters around them. "Shepard, I don't like the way this feels."

"I don't either Garrus, this is either a trap or a morgue. I don't know what would be worse. Legion, are there any life signs that you can pick up from in here in the hanger?"

"Negative, we detect zero life signs of any known species and have no data to indicate the presence of unknown species. There are also no electronic signatures indicating synthetic presence. Is this sufficient?"

"Yes Legion." Shepard paused and looked down at his omni-tool for a moment. "There are no life signs and no indications of a synthetic presence. Legion, I want you to hack into the surveillance feeds aboard the station and see if they were hit by swarmers. I have a feeling the Council strike team isn't going to like what they find aboard that Collector ship."

Garrus shuddered. He had been horrified watching colonists be turned into whatever that DNA goo was aboard the Collector base, but, no matter his attachment to the crew of the Normandy , the whole thing still felt a little distant from him. He hadn't know why at the time but now he did. He had never thought it could happen to him. Even more than that though, he hadn't been forced to imagine his father, mother, or sister being tossed into a tube and disintegrated in front of him. He gulped. Now he had.

"Garrus, are you still with me?" Shepard waved his hand in front of the Turian's face and Garrus felt himself flinch.

"Yeah Shep, want to keep exploring?"

"I think we need to, if we keep seeing this for the next few rooms we'll wait for Legion to get ahold of whatever he's after in their servers and take off." Shepard led them through the next few rooms and they found little more sign of anything living. They passed through a medical bay, devoid of it's patients but containing puddles of different colored blood on the beds.

No doubt the Collectors had pulled the wounded away from their IVs and respirators to take them with them. They then crossed through what appeared to be a Turian bunk room. Garrus surveyed the space and noted the dull green sheets had been pulled aside and thrown onto the floor. Crumpled clothes lay around as if they were dropped while being hastily thrown on by worried Turian troops. What he saw weren't the clean orderly bunks of Turians who had left to begin their shifts, but rather a room in disarray, one that had been attacked by enemy troops in the dead of night. He mentally said a silent prayer for any who wouldn't be making it home.

They climbed a steep set of stairs up to a room overlooking the hanger, seeing nothing of interest they exited and followed a long, silent corridor to what their omni-tool maps of the facility suggested was the station's Command Center. The hallway was bathed in the red of the station's emergency lights and Garrus could sense Grunt's unease radiating off his massive Krogan body. Garrus shifted his attention back to the door at the end of the hallway. At that moment the emergency lights flickered off and a single shotgun blast rang out right next to him, Garrus spun around and felt for a hole in his armor but didn't find one. He leveled his assault rifle at the spot in the darkness where the shot had come from. A tense moment passed before the regular white lights of the station came back online. At the other end of his rifle was Grunt, who had fired a shot directly at the ceiling when the lights went out.

"Grunt, could you avoid blasting anything that doesn't move? I nearly took your arm off. You're glad I waited for another shot before I took you down." Garrus gave Grunt the best death glare he could and waited for the response.

"Not like it wouldn't grow back!" Grunt boomed in response before turning and pounding Garrus on the back with his oversized paw of a hand.

Garrus was pretty sure that he had broken a rib where Grunt had made contact, but stood as tall as he was able to hide the pain. Shepard just rolled his eyes at Grunt and began to move forward once again.

"Shepard-Commander, we have retrieved footage of the assault on the station. It is consistent with your theory of a Swarmer attack followed by a Collector kidnapping of all personnel."

Shepard looked up at the ceiling before pressing his hand to the right side of his head, "Did you get that EDI? It seems they were taken out by the Collectors. Pass that along to the Council and let them know they better hurry with their assault on the ship we took down."

When he didn't get a response Shepard began to repeat himself before Legion interrupted him, "Shepard-Commander, we have detected that our intrusion activated the main defense system. Lights are active but so are the mechanized defenses. We have approximated 53.7 seconds before 4 YMIR mechanized defense units assault this position."

Shepard just glanced at the others before turning and sprinting back in the direction they had come. They stumbled into hanger control room to discover it already had a YMIR in it, standing between them and the door. Shepard barked out a quick "Go" before sprinting toward the armored behemoth. He waited until the last moment, and as it raised it's cannon arm toward him he slid beneath it. Grabbing the mech's primary weapon in his left, and his Revanent Assault Rifle in his right he slid between the legs of the bot. He pumped rounds into the main weapon's barrel, causing a small explosion that took the arm clean off. Grunt slowly and methodically walked toward the machine, pumping it full of shotgun blasts while Legion and Garrus hung back and alternated between firing at its 'head' and drawing its fire. Just before the mech self-destructed Shepard ducked out from underneath it and began jogging down the stairs to the level below.

The bunk room was empty, and so was the medical bay, but the hanger had three mechs in it. Two were YMIR models and one was unfamiliar to Garrus, it looked vaguely Geth in design but was shaped like a Krogan and was operated by a VI. Legion answered the question he had mentally been pondering, "It appears to be a prototype mech designed to fight Krogan, it is designated KGIR in Council briefing files."

"I am not even going to ask how you got to those files." Garrus turned just in time to see Grunt yell a war cry and sprint out from behind him. He spun around and started firing as many rounds as he could into the KGIR. The stupid Krogan was running into what amounted to a trap, he was going to get all of them killed! Grunt's initial headbutt achieved little against the heavy armor plating on the mech's chest, but his next decision, to pick up the KGIR found far more success. Garrus just stared as Grunt struggled, and then succeeded putting the mech, that had to way several tons, on his shoulders. Which a grunt he tossed the mech into the air and directly toward one of the YMIRs that had chosen the wrong moment to advance on the Urdnot warrior. Before either mech, the one he had thrown or the YMIR it had hit could get up, Grunt had closed the distance between them and unloaded shots from an assault rifle and his shotgun into each of their respective chests.

Grunt screamed out over the sound of circuitry being torn apart, "I will defeat you all! Is this the best the Reapers can do?!". He tossed aside his weapons and stomped on the chest of each mech in succession. Giving out under the force of the oversized Krogan's legs, the lights in their eyes went dark and their servos stopped trying to push them up.

The final YMIR emerged from the other side of one of the freighters just in time to be hit by an overload from Legion. Garrus and Shepard turned and unloaded their weapons into the mech, and it crumbled to the ground before engaging its self destruct.

The moment the final mech fell Shepard and Garrus turned back to look at Grunt, who had taken a seat on the floor and was breathing heavily. "Ah, that may have been the most fun I've ever had! You will need to find me more enemies like these Shepard."

Shepard gave him another hard look before responding, "We need to get out of here and report what we found to the Council, they aren't going to be very happy."

Garrus snorted as they entered the Kodiak and crashed down onto their seats, "You can say that again. They're probably going to blame us to given their track record."

Grunt chuckled as he daydreamed, "If they do I will throw them at each other and stomp on their faces before pulling out their guts."

Shepard smiled at the mental image, "And I might just let you do that if they try to deny anything." Shepard gestured at Legion, "I doubt they will though, we have the whole episode on tape."

"Shepard-Commander, we calculate a 97.8% chance that the council will pursue the Collector threat. We also calculate a 99.7% chances that they will reevaluate their anti-Krogan weapons platforms in light of the footage of Grunt's success against the prototype KGIR platform."

The Kodiak departed from the hanger and began the journey back to the Normandy. Garrus was about to smile when he realized the gravity of what they had found in the Overwatch. The Collectors weren't just gunning for the humans anymore, and that meant the Reapers weren't going to discriminate either. He pulled out his omni-tool and started writing a message to his father back on Palaven. Even if the Council began to accept Shepard's word and prioritized the Reaper threat there was only so much they could do themselves. It was about time that he did what he could to push the Hierarchy itself to act. His father, despite being retired, was friends with Primarch Fedorian, and if he listened to Garrus they might be able to convince the Turian leadership to take action.

Halfway through his message Garrus looked up at the others. Grunt wore his stupid grin, thrilled with himself. Shepard stared blankly out the window, probably considering how running into the Collectors would affect the plans he had just started to work on. Legion was motionless except for the fluttering of the small flaps around his eyepiece. Garrus looked back down and resumed typing his letter, even if they didn't know it, his team was depending on him. He wouldn't let them down, he couldn't let himself fail, never again. The rest of the ride back to the Normandy was completed in silence, with only Garrus' keystroked filling the cabin with noise.


	8. The Ivory Tower

_Hey everyone, I'm thrilled with the reaction the story is getting. I wanted to throw in a different viewpoint of what's going on. I don't think the Council usually gets a fair shake amongst fans, not because the fans are wrong, but rather because Bioware makes them seem like jerks when they're making some fairly rational calls based on the information presented to them._

 _Additionally, I'm rolling with the description of the Terminus Systems that appears in ME1. The area is described as the domain of minor species that chose not to subordinate themselves to the Citadel, so that's why I'm having the Council interact with them as they do. It makes sense with all the Council's whining in ME1 'We can't risk war with the Terminus Systems!'. This doesn't make a lot of sense if it's just Aria and some mercs. With that, let us be off._

 **The Citadel - Councilor Sparatus**

He couldn't imagine being any more bored than he was at that moment. Sparatus and the other Councilors had given up on standing and had fallen into their seats about twenty minutes after their Elcor petitioner began his monologue.

Looking around he spotted Valern pecking at his Omni-tool, blatantly not paying attention to their guest. Anderson seemed to be staring into the distance, but Sparatus knew from his conversations with the new Human Councilor that he was really reading messages using HUD equipped contact-lenses. Only Tevos appeared to be listening to the Elcor. Her eyes were closed and she sat in a manner suggesting meditation or deep thought. It took another moment before she slumped back in her chair and Sparatus came to the realization she was sleeping. Of course they would leave him alone to listen to this. He zoned out and hoped the big elephant would hurry it up.

The Elcor went on for another 40 minutes before Sparatus had had enough. He leaned forward and looked directly at the petitioner, "I understand the danger your pack faces from mercenary groups based in the Terminus systems, but I fail to see what exactly what the Council can do to help."

"Desperate-Pleading: We need Council soldiers to battle the mercenaries who are stealing our crop."

"I must regretfully inform you that our resources are stretched too thin right now. As much as I would like to help you, I simply cannot."

"With Sadness: We were expecting this result. Thank you for your time." The Elcor slowly lumbered off to inform his pack of his inability to get them the help he had come for. Sparatus stood and announced to those in the chamber, "Petitioning has ended for the day, if you feel the Council absolutely must hear your request please return tomorrow or make an appointment with your species' embassy to have them make your request for you." With that he turned around and left the platform to head to the Council discussion chambers.

Sparatus stepped through the small door from the main hall of the Presidium tower into the Council's private discussion room. The room was plain, with a simple square brushed stainless steel table in its center and plain off-white walls. The only visible ornaments were paintings of the four Council species' home planets hanging behind each of their designated seats. Sparatus far preferred the work he did here to the boring and never ending line of petitioners that assaulted him in the main hall. The discussions behind closed doors were where what led to the real decisions. There were rarely substantive disagreements between the Council species and as a result, decisions tended to be made quickly. He loathed what he was forced to do facing petitioners. His least favorite task was what he had just been forced to do, turn away those who had come pleading for his help.

Anderson was the first through the door after him and grabbed his shoulder the instant they were in the room together, Sparatus made a move to shake the human off but the former soldier had too strong a grip. Anderson leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Shepard sent me a message while we were out there, we have a problem."

He sighed, pulled away from Anderson, and sat below the portrait of Palaven hanging above his chair. Shepard had proven his point when he had stopped in the previous day. All his aides and analysts were reporting that it appeared everything Shepard had claimed was checking out, and if they were right….the Council, and he himself, had put the entire galaxy at risk. He didn't really blame himself, Shepard and too many others thought that being on the Council was easy, that it meant having the power of the entire galaxy at his fingertips, but they were wrong.

All too often he had to turn away good, innocent people in need of aid because he lacked the ability to provide it to them. The Council wasn't omnipotent, their resources were limited, and at the end of the day he had to answer to his government on Palaven. He hadn't doubted Shepard out of some ill will toward him or his intentions. He just never had any definitive proof. The Commander had come before the council, both after Sovereign's assault on the Citadel and then again after his miraculous reappearance on the galactic stage, without the Prothean VI he claimed to have found, without a beacon with which to replicate the memories he claimed to have been given, and the ancient sentient plant he had found on Feros was dead. Shepard had destroyed everything that would he claimed would back up his story.

The moment Valern walked in Anderson closed the door. He was clearly in a hurry and did not want to take the time to wake Tevos. Sparatus mused that whatever Shepard had found must have been downright awful to inspire the reaction he was witnessing from the Admiral.

"The Normandy detected a Collector vessel in the Arlakh system and moved to investigate, immediately after exiting the relay she came under attack by a Collector vessel identical to the one we witnessed being destroyed in the footage we were provided. Shepard managed to disable the ship's engines and leave it dead in space."

Valern looked at Anderson with a worried expression on his thin face, "What were the Collectors doing with the Krogan?"

"To Shepard's knowledge nothing, but there is bad news, his last message to me indicated that the Overwatch had gone dark. He couldn't make radio contact with them so he was going to investigate it and requested that the Council send in a force to clear the Collector ship."

Valern remained silent and worried, Sparatus was sure that he was contemplating the disaster that another Krogan Rebellions would be. Especially now as they began to mobilize and prepare for the Reapers. The Turian Councilor leaned forward, "You have my approval. I want to hear from you the instant you get word from Shepard about what he finds at the Overwatch. Valern," Sparatus turned to face his Salarian counterpart, "I assume you agree?"

"Yes, information is very concerning. I will request a STG team enter the Arlakh system. They can meet with human and turian forces before entering the ship. I will send the STG team the data from Shepard's encounters and combat with the Collectors, they can disseminate it to your forces when they gather."

Anderson nodded, "It sounds like a plan. From what Shepard has told me the ships will be a nightmare, make sure you send the best you have." The human looked to the door as Tevos lumbered in rubbing her eyes.

"What have I missed?"

"Glad you chose to join us. There was a Collector attack on our forces in the Arlakh system. Shepard is investigating and we just voted to send in a strike team to clear the ship and rescue any survivors."

Tevos gestured her approval as she moved to take her seat, "Very well, I support the measure. Since our respective governments have confirmed the data Shepard provided would you like to discuss our plans to prepare for the Reapers?"

Sparatus grimaced, leave it to an Asari to walk in on a meeting and assume they were in charge, "We were about to start before you woke up and decided it was time to join us. The Hierarchy has committed to expanding our fleet of dreadnaughts and carriers as quickly as possible. We've begun consulting Alliance engineers on the design and maintenance of their advanced carrier systems. Additionally, we have begun to line up asteroids behind our defensive line for use as bombardment weapons against a potential ground invasion."

The Human Councilor shook his head, "Humanity is doing the same, but even if we ignore the Treaty of Farixen we can't hope to have a fleet large enough to protect us from the Reaper's sheer numbers. I propose allowing associate races to build ships as quickly as they can as well."

Tevos stood up in anger and wildly threw her arms into the air, "We cannot allow that! A reckless buildup of capital ships will destabilize the balance of power, we may as well throw away the authority of this council if we do that!"

Sparatus understood how Tevos felt, the Hierarchy had been tasked with protecting the galaxy for more than a millennium, and he had been forced over the last 48 hours to confront the fact that they were no longer capable of doing so. The Asari had been on the Citadel from the start and each lived for a thousand years. They treated change as something that happened over hundreds of years. Tevos was witnessing the galactic order overturned in a matter of days. It didn't make her right however. He slammed his fist onto the table, "We're going to be vastly outnumbered even with the minor races building their forces up. Now is not the time for your power politics."

Anderson followed him up, "Speaking of which, we need to discuss the proposals Shepard made for building up our forces. The Krogan, Quarian, and diplomatic proposals need addressing."

"The Salarian Union will not support the modification or elimination of the genophage, to do so is to court disaster. As for the other two, the Union is sending aid out to the new Quarian planet and is providing a stealth escort to Asari diplomats as they travel to court Terminus species."

Sparatus knew that they would need all the help they could get in fighting the Reapers, but the Krogan would be more trouble than they were worth, "I'm sorry Anderson, but the Hierarchy just can't get behind reversing the genophage right now. We can continue discussing it at a later date."

"Valern, Sparatus, you're making a mistake. Without the Krogan we won't be able to counter Reaper forces on the ground. We all know that. You can be certain I will continue to push for this, both with you and your governments."

Tevos, who had remained silent on the issue of the Krogan, acknowledged the promise, "And we will listen to your points then. Moving on, Asari ships have been dispatched to the Terminus species most likely to agree to a defensive pact with the Citadel fleet, and our aid ships should be leaving Thessia to supply the Quarians with necessities for colonization over the next few days. Everything we discussed is on schedule."

She continued, "With that dealt with are we done for the day?"

The four Councilors agreed to end discussions, stood up, and left the room to depart for their various offices and homes. Sparatus climbed down the stairs of the main Council chamber and stepped into his personal aircar, he was followed in by his pair of bodyguards and together they took off into the air. His vehicle was spartan in design. The seats were a plain black synthetic leather and the carpeting on the floor was a dark shade of gray. The outside was a nondescript silver, perfect for disappearing into traffic and evading the press and assassins alike. Sparatus wasn't sure which of the two he disliked more. The only unusual feature the car possessed were its deeply tinted windows.

He took the nearly forty minutes of his daily commute back to his small apartment to contemplate the day, as was his habit. They had accomplished little of real consequence other than begin to dive into the mess that the Arlakh system was turning into. He hoped dearly that the Collector ship Shepard had disabled was the last of them as it would be difficult to prepare for a war against the Reapers if they were under constant alert for the Prothean husks. Not that it mattered, he would wait to hear back from Shepard and the strike team they were sending before pondering the issue further, developing his own hypotheses wouldn't accomplish anything. The aircar landed and he stepped out, as he approached the front door of the apartment, he heard loud pops behind him and he turned around just in time to see his bodyguards crumple to the ground one after the other. He pushed his shoulder through his front door, slamming it shut behind him as he dove to the ground to avoid the gunfire pouring into his home.

He knew that all he had to do was hold out a few minutes for C-Sec, his bodyguards biometric data was transmitted to C-Sec headquarters and any interruption meant SWAT teams would be deployed in under 2 minutes. He crawled forward, trying to get to his bedroom and the weapons safe he kept there. He wasn't young, but he had served in the Navy for nearly a decade and still went to the shooting range once a month. He felt a bullet penetrate his left leg, and then his right. He was nearly immobilized. Sparatus dug his talons into the floor in a desperate effort to get to cover. He just needed to last a minute more and C-Sec could launch an assault on whoever his attackers were. He heard large amounts of gunfire outside before something, or someone, crashed through his front door behind him. He struggled to turn around, but had lost too much blood. As Sparatus blacked out he could feel himself being dragged toward the door, unsure of who it was that was taking him or if C-Sec had gotten to him in time.


	9. A Mai Tai in Orbit

I think this is a good point to ask for some reader input, I have two decisions to make. One technical and one plot based.

Do you guys prefer 2000 word or so chapter out every couple of days or 3000 word chapters a little less often?

Who should be Shepard's love interest? I've left it open because I wanted to do some universe building, but I have to make a call soon.

With that done, let us be off once again.

 **Olympus System - Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay**

The Migrant Fleet was buzzing with more activity than Shala had seen during her lifetime. Ships were descending from the fleet and landing on the surface of a Quarian world for the first time in over two hundred years. The patrol fleet was overheard, escorting freighters containing aid from the Council races to the makeshift encampments that were rapidly turning into cities. There had one incident of ships ramming into each other to reach the planet's surface first, but beyond superficial damage to the ships little harm was done. The Admirals disciplined the Captains involved and no other incident occurred. The demeanor of almost every Quarian was upbeat, even Xen managed to sound satisfied with the events, at least compared to her normal annoyed tone.

She was happier than she could ever remember being. Raan had never fully embraced the idea of waging a war against the Geth to take back the homeworld, and this turn of events made it unnecessary. With the blessing of the Council, and their assistance in establishing the as of yet unnamed planet as a Quarian one, she could was certain for the first time in her life that her people would survive. At the same time she recognized that the Council hadn't actually changed their minds about Quarians. Shepard and the Reapers had forced them into a corner. Leaving the galaxy's largest fleet unavailable for their war would have been a strategic blunder and Shepard was more or less able to blackmail the council into doing his bidding. He didn't need to explicitly say as much, he may not even know he was doing it, but the threat of publicly releasing of the data he had accumulated during his mission against the Collectors meant he had incredible leverage. And everyone who knew the information existed knew it. The risk to him was that the data would find its way to the public anyway, she had heard about it during her call with Tali and the more people who knew the sooner the impending threat would become public.

While Shala believed Shepard had been the force that pushed the Council into action she knew he wasn't the only impetus for their shift in policy, Quarian Intelligence (QI) had been telling the Admiralty for some time that the Alliance had been 'suggesting' the other Council species ease up on the Quarians. The Alliance had spent the better part of 30 years fighting to shake up the balance of power in the galaxy under the assumption that it would benefit Humanity, and their efforts were finally paying off. Her being familiar with many of the backroom dealings that had placed her extended family on their new home didn't change her appreciation for the result.

Shala was certain that Gerrel and Xen would eventually use their more secure position in the galaxy to push for a campaign against the Geth, but she knew that now was no better than a couple weeks before. She resented Admiral Koris, but she knew she would have to rely on him to stop a potential war. The other issue the Quarian people were facing was a debate over who to name as Rael's successor on the Admiralty Board. She and Koris had been backing a career Chief Engineer who was leading the construction efforts: Xain'Moroe, but Xen and Gerrel were allied in their desire to place an anti-Geth candidate on the Board.

She stepped out of the shuttle she had been riding in and onto the planet's surface. She looked around her. Her landing zone, in the center of where the future capital was to be constructed was full of activity. Cranes were raising multi-story buildings for and trees were being cut down for lumber and to free up space. Using her helmet's built in HUD to guide her, Raan walked down what would someday be the main thoroughfare of the city. Moving her head from side to side she was able to see the planned buildings overlaying the existing environment, she had to blink rapidly to avoid crying tears of joy. There were fountains, monuments to heroic Quarians, and memorials to those lost in conflict.

She had Tali to thank for this, if that little girl she loved as a daughter and had helped raise hadn't run into Shepard, none of this would be happening. She wouldn't have a home for the first time in her life. She wouldn't be able to see families working to build their own homes, the first true Quarian houses in centuries. She wouldn't be able to feel optimistic about her people's future for the first time in her life. It was at that moment she had a realization. There was no figure in the fleet more popular than Tali, (Shala had made sure that Tali's call announcing their new homeward was broadcast to the entire fleet as soon as the girl had hung up). If Tali were to become a candidate for her father's seat on the Board she would have overwhelming support in the conclave and be shoo in for the seat. Most importantly, Tali would be no advocate for war against the Geth.

Shala turned around, and headed along on the dirt path she had come down hoping dearly that it would someday become the bright white stone walkway she knew from her dreams. She quickened her pace as she approached the small, boring, prefabricated provisional capitol building sitting atop the grand hill planners had decided would be home to the new domed capital building. If she could just get to Koris before another vote on the prior nominees was held, then Tali's nomination could go through and the conclave would support her. She paused for a moment outside the office that Koris and she shared, what if Tali refused the promotion? She had become quite attached to the Normandy and her Commander…It didn't matter. The future of the Quarian people depended on the election of a rational new Admiral who could guide their people to a new golden age and wouldn't seek to provoke the Geth. She pushed into the office and informed an eager Zal'Koris of her plan.

 **SR2 Normandy - Shepard**

Shepard ducked into the conference room, he had been writing a list of suggestions on assaulting the Collector ship for whatever force the Council decided to send. After that he had wanted to make his selections for the Tuchankan ground team and speak to Legion about the Geth's thoughts on the Quarians finding a new home, but EDI had interrupted him and informed him that Anderson needed to speak with him as soon as he possibly could. More stress was the last thing he needed. The QEC didn't connect to the Citadel, but the Council accepted the bill for a direct FTL call and Anderson's face appeared on the wall mounted vidscreen when as soon as Shepard walked in.

"Shepard, we have a problem." Anderson looked grim, "Sparatus was grabbed by unknown assailants on his way home yesterday. His bodyguards were killed and his blood was all over the place. We can't say if he made it. Whoever did this was a professional."

"Why the hell would someone kidnap him? More importantly, what group has the ability to kidnap a member of the Council in the middle of the Presidium?"

"Some of the personal security has been reduced since Saren's attack on the Citadel. The logic was that is security was higher at docking points, the chance of heavy weapons or terrorists making it through was much smaller than before. I didn't agree with the change then and I sure as hell don't now. Sparatus had started to back our positions on the military buildup and was moving our way with the Krogan. If I had more time I could have convinced him to change his vote!"

Shepard looked directly at Anderson, "You had no idea this would happen. I assume there's an all out search to find him?"

"The Executor of C-Sec is leading the search personally, and the remaining members of the Council have added Spectre Jondum Bau to the search, he has a nearly flawless record looking for missing persons. I'm worried about what this suggests though, if there's a force of indoctrinated agents working against us… "

Shepard finished Anderson's statement, "We could be faced with enemies from within, tearing apart our forces exactly when we need to unify. Anderson, I need you to find out if that's what this is. I'll try and give it time, but I have a lot on my plate right now. And while I never had any particular love for Sparatus we really needed his help right now." Shepard paused, "Is the Council sending the strike team I requested for the Collector vessel? I've made sure it hasn't moved from where we left it, but I need to get on with other tasks. There's a lot to do before we're ready for the Reapers."

"I'll see what I can dig up on potential Reaper agents. I know there's a lot in need of your attention Shepard, and I'm doing what I can on my end." Anderson sat down and the camera panned downward to follow his face, "We've put together a Turian, Salarian, and Human force to clear the ship and rescue any captured troops. Your efforts for us over there are greatly appreciated. As to the other requests you made of the Council: delegations to the Terminus should be leaving in the next few days, pulling them into the fold should add to our forces marginally, more important is the strategic value they present. With the minor species watching our rear we can focus on fewer fronts. The most recent reports suggest the Quarians are settling in rapidly, there's some intelligence I have that suggests they're going to turn around and use the planet as a base against the Geth however. Shepard, the last thing we need is a war between two of the largest forces in the Galaxy."

"I know sir, I have one task to take care of before I plan to meet with the Admiralty. They owe me more than one."

"I'll keep you posted with anything else I learn, about Sparatus, Reaper agents, or the Quarians."

"Thank you, I'll call you when I get back from speaking with Warlord Wrex." Shepard shut down the connection and walked out of the room. He turned right into the lab where he loitered for a moment. Mordin looked up from his work, but Shepard just nodded to him and continued on. He knew Mordin was ready for the task ahead. He hated to lose a member of his team, but this was more important than whatever the Professor could be doing aboard the Normandy. The Commander passed through the doorway and into the CIC.

"Commander, you have a message waiting for you are your terminal."

"Thank you Kelly, can you have Mordin, Grunt, and Zaeed be ready for me in the cargo bay? We're going to head down to the planet in a few minutes."

"Of course Commander."

Shepard turned to read through his messages. The number he was getting had been exponentially growing as time passed. Shepard assumed it had to do with the number of people who knew he had come back from the dead. Eh, nothing in his messages was important, some thank you notes from people he'd saved and a couple ads for products he didn't want or need. Shepard called Garrus up to the CIC and waited for him to arrive.

Shepard began after Garrus cleared the elevator doors, "Garrus, Miranda is the XO of the ship, but if the Collectors start moving and we have to hit them before the Council forces arrive I want you leading the strike team. That's why I'm leaving you aboard while I go to meet with Wrex. Take Jack, Samara, and whoever else you think you'll need. I wish I wasn't leaving you in this position, but I don't have much of a choice. We're in too much of a hurry to wait."

"I understand Shepard, you want to go vacation with your Krogan pals and leave me to do the hard work." Garrus winked at him, "In all seriousness though, I'll keep an eye on things while you're down there. I understand how important what we're doing is."

Shepard clasped his shoulder, "Thanks Garrus, you're the best friend I could have. As for the vacation, don't even try to bullshit me. I'm going to be dealing with a bunch of head-butting Krogan while you're up here sipping a Mai Tai!"

"What's a Mai Tai?"

Shepard grinned, "If I don't tell you you can't be sipping on one can you?" He took the opportunity to leave a perplexed Garrus standing behind him as he moved into the elevator. All Garrus saw was Shepard's grin as the door slid closed.


	10. Tuchanka

Sorry this chapter is so short, hopefully the plot twist is worth the smaller size. I've put out close to 20,000 words in a week and it's starting to mess with my other work. I have a lot to get done, and unless any of you are javascript experts I'm gonna be dark tomorrow. I'll have something up Sunday though, I promise. I still haven't made a call on a romance yet, but I'm getting close. I got a pretty good amount of feedback. I heard votes for everyone from Samara to Kelly, so seriously, it's interesting to see how wide the support different characters get is. Please know, even if I don't pick your favorite for this story, I'll almost certainly get to it in another story I write. Check my profile to see what some future plans I have are. With that, let us be off.

 **Tuchanka - Shepard**

The Kodiak bounced violently as Tuchanka's thick radioactive atmosphere buffeted it with winds. Shepard hated this part, he'd never felt completely comfortable flying in atmosphere. His childhood had been spent in space with his mother and his career in the Alliance had kept him in warships. He was horribly unused to in atmosphere flight and that wasn't to mention the stressful landings in the Mako and Kodiak he'd been forced to deal with over the last few years. He'd nearly thrown up when Joker had forced the Mako into that alleyway back on Ilos to catch up to Saren. He was grateful when the Kodiak settled into the small alcove near the Urdnot main hall. He began to prepare the right words for Wrex. It wasn't everyday that you got to tell the thousand year old leader of a species that you there to save his people from extinction.

Shepard stepped out of the shuttle closely followed by Mordin, Grunt, and Zaeed. One of the Krogan guarding the landing bay moved, taking a threatening step toward Mordin with a look of pure malice on his face. He was undoubtedly driven by the hatred all Krogan held for Salarians, and relished the thought of some small revenge for the fate they had condemned his people to. Before he could do anything however, Grunt lunged forward and delivered a punishing headbutt, and Shepard was shocked as he heard the crack of noise and the guard fell backwards onto his rear end. Grunt glared at him, "This is a Salarian, but he is the future of our species. If you want to kill him, you will have to kill me first." Grunt looked at the Krogan lying on the ground, "and you will die trying."

Shepard nodded, Grunt understood what was needed for the Krogan to survive, and the more strong Krogan that understood what they needed to do, the faster the entire species would understand. The group entered the main hall and headed straight toward Wrex. Looking around Shepard saw that just a few months had made a world of difference for Clan Urdnot's home. The rubble that had filled the main hall was gone, and the fallen columns had been pushed upright and into place. There were Krogan on scaffolding high up on the walls patching cracks in the stone with plaster. Shepard half-expected to see an art studio around the next corner.

As soon as he spotted his old friend, Wrex leapt to his feet and called out, "Shepard, what do you need of me this time? Another Thresher Maw to kill? Or perhaps you would like to go kill another one of my rivals for me?" Wrex embraced Shepard, "It's good to see you old friend."

Zaeed looked at Mordin with a raised eyebrow, "Aint never seen a Goddamn Krogan hug someone before."

Mordin just shrugged, "Wrex unpredictable Krogan. It's why species is changing."

"I'll believe that when I stop having to kill bloody Krogan mercenaries all the time."

Shepard barely glanced at the banter the two were exchanging, "Wrex, I'm not here to request something. I do have a proposition I think you'll like. Is there a place we can discuss it in private?"

"Of course, I hope this is worth it Shepard. I don't like to keep things from my people, backroom negotiations are for Salarians and Asari." Wrex was warily eyeing Mordin.

The Krogan leader led Shepard to a small room on the other end of the hall and the two entered while the rest of Shepard's team waited outside. "Alright Shepard, I'm a busy Krogan. What's your plan?"

Shepard had decided to be straightforward about his plan, "I want to cure the genophage Wrex."

"I got what I asked for with you Shepard. That was blunt." Wrex let out a sigh that sounded more like a groan, "You think I haven't thought of that Shepard? I don't have the scientists to do it, and more importantly, even if we got close we would just get a war with the Salarians. Or the Turians. Or both. Until the Krogan can prove that we're not just thugs and mercenaries, curing the genophage is a waste of time. A way to kill our species faster than it already is."

"It means a lot that you've given it the thought you have Wrex, but you shouldn't have the hesitancy you do. The Salarian out there, Professor Mordin Solus, worked on the genophage, and he's agreed to cure it. As to the possibility for war…I'm working on it. The Turians wouldn't fight you, they understand the threat the Reapers pose and the Turian council was close to agreeing to curing it. The Salarians, well, I have a couple favors to call in with them. Plus, the Alliance can block them from getting the Council to declare war." Shepard frowned, Wrex had made some decent points for his people, but he needed the Krogan at full strength to fight the Reapers, "If we cure the genophage before they find out it none of it will matter anyway."

"I know what you want Shepard, you want Krogan soldiers manning the front lines against the Reapers. For me to do that, be willing to sacrifice the numbers required for that war, I need to know that we'll have children to raise. You need to get the Council to back this before I can say yes."

The rug had been pulled out from the Commander, he hadn't thought Wrex would turn him down in a million years, but he was right, "Would you at least let Mordin set his equipment up and do his other work here? I want him to start working on this the second we get approval."

"I'll find him a space. I can't promise my men will be kind to the lizard, but I'll make sure none of them try to kill him." Wrex reached across the table and shook Shepard's hand, "Look, I know you're trying to help, and I appreciate it, but this is a struggle my people have been fighting for centuries, and I admit it's not one that will be solved overnight."

"I'll get in touch with the Council as soon as I can, but I can't promise an overnight solution Wrex."

"I don't expect it to be solved overnight Shepard, I've spent the last two and a half years rebuilding this world, rebuilding my species. You've done as much for my people and for me as anyone I've ever met, but there are some things even you can't do alone. It's better you learn that before this war begins. Now, if that's all, I'll go get your pet lizard some space and get back to running a planet."

Shepard was dazed, his entire plan for the Krogan had just thrown in his face. "Thanks Wrex, I'll get to work on it." He walked out of the room and gestured for his team to follow him, "Mordin, I'll send down the Kodiak with your equipment. Wrex is going to find you a room, we don't have explicit permission to work on a cure, so just don't do anything that could start a war okay?"

Mordin seemed confused, but understood quickly enough, "Of course Shepard, will get to work bringing room up to spec."

Shepard crossed the main hall he'd been so impressed by just a few minutes earlier completely oblivious to the work being done. He walked out of the room and back to the shuttle. The guard Grunt had headbutted earlier stayed well back from him this time. The Commander climbed into the Kodiak and fell into the seat across from the door.

"Are you okay Shepard, you look like you took a damn bullet."

"I'll be fine Zaeed, I just need some time to think. Things didn't go as well as I'd hoped down here."

Zaeed leaned forward from his seat toward Shepard as the Kodiak lifted into the air to journey back to the Normandy, "Look Shepard, you've saved more lives than just about any sorry bastard I've ever met. You've saved the galaxy and killed a Reaper in close range combat. But those things don't mean your a Goddamn superhero. You're just a man. You do the best you can and live with the consequences. Me, I got shot in the face by my best friend and left for dead. If the worst thing that happens to you is your plans don't go perfectly you have a lot to be thankful for."

Shepard was shocked. Not by Zaeed's expletive laced outburst, but by how upbeat he sounded. Normally the old man sounded bitter and resentful, but this time he seemed almost kind. Despite this the Commander couldn't let the opportunity to land the joke pass, "You forgot the part where my ship got blown up and I was spaced and killed."

"Aye, but you still have two good eyes and they made action vids about you. I'm a bitter old man with one eye and a gun that doesn't work."

Shepard laughed, "Thanks Zaeed, I mean it. By the way, I may know the Shadow Broker. How about we go find a certain Blue Suns leader and blow the shit out of him?"

"You serious? It sounds like a good fuckin plan to me Shepard. I have some unfinished business with a certain asshole that meets the description."

Grunt took that moment to add his own input, "If we're blowing things up I would like to come."

"Of course Grunt, there isn't anyone I would rather have with me for this. And about that guard down there, I'm glad you understand what Wrex and I are trying to do."

"Warlord, I may enjoy the thrill of battle, it may stir my blood, but I am no fool. I was bred from the DNA of the greatest Krogan Warlords ever to live. They did not reach their positions through foolish conflict or violence. I am pure Krogan, not some foolish mercenary."

Shepard knew today was a defeat, he hadn't taken a step he thought he was prepared to, but he had a task to do to blow off some steam and knew that as long as Krogan like Wrex and Grunt were in charge, their people would be able to convince the Council that the need for the Genophage was long gone. Today might have been a defeat, but it wouldn't cost him the war.


	11. Votes and Needles

Sorry for the delay since the last chapter guys, I had a really awful javascript assignment and it took longer than I'd expected. That's on top of Valentine's Day and the Pharmacology Midterm I have coming up. This chapter isn't super long, but the feedback I received is that you'd rather not wait to get the longer chapters anyhow. I've made a decision on the romance, you guys will hopefully see it next chapter. Anyhow, here is Chapter 11, let us be off.

 **An Unknown Location - Councilor Sparatus**

Sparatus had been left with a bag on his head for whatever amount of time had passed since he'd woken up. While he had no idea where he was or who was holding him, he did have some sense of what was going on around him. He was tied down to what felt like a cold steel table and had restraints on all of his limbs and one around his midsection. Any voices he heard around him were hushed, but there were a mix of males and females, or Asari he supposed.

He had periodically received injections which he hoped were just painkillers, but realistically were probably a mix of truth serums made for Turians and the painkillers he knew he must be receiving. He was so sure because despite being shot, his legs didn't hurt at all. Additionally he had felt himself receiving new dressings for the wounds, and from the way his legs were able to move (his movement was restricted by the restraints) his mobility would be limited at best. He was unsure if he's been operated on to repair possible damage to the muscles and ligaments and he was medically immobilized or if his captors were letting the damage the bullets had done become permanent.

He sincerely hoped the damage wouldn't be. As much as the Turian people respected wounded veterans, which his wounds would be considered 'for the cause' and all, their was also an unintentional aura of pity. The last thing a proud Turian wanted was to see others look at them in such a manner. They were still Turians, still had the same wants and desires, respect was valued, but pity would accomplish little beyond making him feel less than whole.

He'd spent the time since he regained consciousness trying to figure out who it was that had attacked and kidnapped him. He had supposed it could be the allies of Reapers, but he doubted it. Not only had he not seen evidence or even heard of them possessing special forces, it seemed unlike how Shepard had described them. They seemed to prefer overwhelming force and total war, not subterfuge. He next thought of the Alliance, but they seemed unlikely as well. As strange as it would seem, he was the closest thing to an ally the humans had these days. He would have found the unlikely alliance of their species funny, but he remained aware of his current predicament.

He doubted it was the Batarians, they held no love for the Turians or the Citadel, but it was the humans they resented. The Salarians too now that they were suspected of destroying the Bahak relay. It had to be either the Asari, Salarians, or some terrorist/splinter group. He refused to contemplate what it would mean if one of the original council races had taken him, the results would be too catastrophic. And if it were in fact a terror group who was holding him, his chances of survival were near zero and figuring out who they were was waste of time. There were too many to figure it out.

When he heard footsteps coming up he to him he assumed they would be for the same things as every other visit he'd received, redressing his wounds or new injections. He was left reeling when his visitor pulled off his hood. It had been made of a heavy material which allowed little light to pass through, and its removal was both blinding and painful to eyes seeing their first light in days. He was left reeling in the bright light and was barely able to see an outline of the figure before him. Not Salarian. A deep male voice boomed in his face, "The Council did Bakak didn't it?" He didn't respond, unable to immediately place the meaning of the question and unable to speak after days of silence.

Sparatus felt the sudden impact of what he could only assume was a fist into his stomach, the air he had inside of his lungs was quickly evacuated as he was left without oxygen. "I want an answer bird man!"

He saw the blow before he felt it. Although his vision remained poor and limited, the fist flying toward his face blocked out enough light for him to anticipate the punch. Sparatus turned his head to lessen the blow and felt pain sear through the side of his head. "You blew up the relay! Or did you have your pathetic slimy lizard friends do it for you?!"

Sparatus shook his head and managed to squeeze an answer out of his still empty lungs, "No idea…what you're talking about…."

He felt a hand grasp itself around his neck, fingers, not talons. They weren't Turians. "If you don't give me an answer I'll have to bring in some help. Let us just say that he isn't as…blunt as me. Prefers more precision instruments." Sparatus shuddered, imagining one of these idiots coming at him with a knife.

He would have spat in the bastard's face but his mouth was too dry, so he settled for the next best thing. Sparatus chuckled as loudly as he could in his weakened state, "You should go home and ask your mother young man, I think I left the answer with her."

He heard a roar of anger at his meager attempt at rebellion, a fist came screaming toward him faster than before. Without time to turn and avoid the blow Sparatus took the strike directly in his face. He felt a mandible tear upon being twisted out of place, blood poured down his chin and onto the table below him. Sparatus' vision finally started to normalize.

As his captor's face came into view he was faced with what he had just figured out based upon the questions he was asked. It was the Batarians who had him. Fuck.

 **Unnamed New Quarian Homeward - Shala'Raan**

Shala gazed at her fellow admirals around her. This was possibly the most important moment for their people in 200 years. The vote that would take place in the next few moments would determine who filled the vacant seat on the Admiralty Board. Who filled that seat in turn determined how the Quarian people would respond to the opportunity presented by having a homeworld. They would either build, grow, and defend their new home as she and Koris desired, or they would use the planet as a base from which to strike at the Geth, as Xen and Gerrel desired. The room they were sitting in had none of the simple elegance of the Council's private discussion room, nor the grand size and bold tones of Arcturus Station's parliamentary chamber. It was a square room in their prefabricated capital. Thin tin walls surrounded them and they sat at a small table far too small for four people.

The table had been Korris' doing. It had been the first piece of furniture built from raw materials of their new planet and he had hoped it would function as a symbol of their future here and the opportunity the planet presented. His hopes had been those of an idealist however, Xen described it as "impractical and a wasteful use of resources". Gerrel was even harsher in his analysis, "A small table for a small man" he had declared. Raan complemented Koris, but it had been a fool's gesture, she knew that.

They were in the room to send nominations for the Board to the Conclave. Any Quarian could nominate any other for the open slot, but there were requirements they had to meet. The Board verified nominees met these requirements before forwarding the eligible candidates to the Conclave, noting each Admiral's favored candidate.

She began, "So we are agreed that Tali'Zorah is a legitimate candidate for this board whose name will indeed be placed before the Conclave for voting?"

Xen didn't hesitate to begin her case against the move, "We have not had an admiral so young in 140 years. Even without an official rule against one so young, such youth would be a mistake."

"Xen, we went over this, Tali meets every minimum requirement. It is not the role of this meeting to determine if she is the right candidate, so much as it is to determine whether she meets the requirements. Please, can we agree that this is the task we are bestowed before the next meeting of the conclave?"

Koris and Gerrel both nodded their assent. "Good, we have a majority, let us move on. Gerrel, how is the heavy fleet doing in setting up planetary defenses?"

"The task is different than we're used to, the physics inevitably change when we're not floating around without gravity. However, now that we have adjusted our system we should have a planetary anti-ship defense system in the next week or so."

Everyone around the table seemed satisfied by the news, Raan wanted to get the Conclave's decision as fast as possible, "Unless we have further business to discuss, it is appropriate if we put forward the verified nominations for the empty seat on this board. Do we have any final objections?"

Xen remained fuming as she knew what Tali's selection to the board would do to her plans for war, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Very well, I will send the head of the Conclave our approved nominations and we shall wait here to listen for a decision." Raan entered the names into her omni-tool and sent them to the head captain of the Conclave. His position was more of a parliamentarian than a Prime Minister, unlike the humans. As she waited she mused over whether that would change. The Quarians had possessed a robust planet wide democracy prior to their war with the Geth, it was only being driven into space that had changed that. Plus, most of the important decisions for her people were made by the Conclave, it was really only fleet transit and war decisions that were made by the Admirals.

As time passed and she continued to wait for the head captain to send her the Conclave's decision she glanced around the room. Koris and Gerrel were both turned around and staring blankly at the walls behind their seats, Shala thought that they may be looking at their helmet's HUDs, but she could not know for sure. It turned out that Xen on the other hand was quite transparent about what she was doing. She was staring directly at Raan. She wasn't sure how long Xen had been staring, it may have been the entire time they'd been waiting for a decision. Xen knew what she was trying to do with the nomination of Tali and was less than pleased about it.

Shala was sure Gerrel knew her plan as well, but whether his lack of visible ire was due to his positive feelings about his best friend Rael's daughter or confidence his own pro-war nominee would prevail she couldn't be sure. The clock continued to turn.

It was only an hour after the nominations were sent to the conclave that the Admirals finally received word about who the new Admiral was. It turned out a large part of the delay was the desire of the head captain to send a messenger to the admirals instead of sending them an omni-message. The messenger had of course become lost in their new capital building, as small as it was.

When he opened the door to the Admiralty Board's room they all spun around to determine what the message was. The messenger obliged them, "It is with great pleasure that the Migrant Fleet Conclave of Captains would like to inform the Migrant Fleet Admiralty Board that they, from the nominations provided, have selected Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy to join the Board."

Xen hissed the moment the name came from the poor boy's mouth and he fled in pure terror as soon as he was done. Shala smiled, all that was left was to alert Tali of her new position and the Board could have a strict up or down vote on the war once she arrived. Shala would handle telling Tali personally, the girl would need to be informed carefully, "I will alert Admiral Zorah of her new position, as the closest thing to family that Tali has left I will take it as my duty. Are there objections?"

Silence filled the room. "Very well, I will send her a message in one hour." The other Admirals all stood up and filed out of the room, Koris took one last look back at her and nodded.

She had won. Her people were safe and could focus on the future. She reflected, the Geth could come later.


	12. Clouds in the Coffee

Hey all, I have a Linear Algebra midterm on Thursday, so I may need a few days for the next chapter, we'll see. Romance stuff this chapter, hopefully you don't hate it (I can already anticipate the virtual tomatoes). Give me your feedback and I'll see what you say. Next chapter you'll get a lot more Grunt, Legion, and some fun Zaeed stuff. Hope you enjoy that. Also, check my profile please, I have some exciting ideas for future stories I'd like to write and want your feedback. Additionally, I'll write an extra side chapter not relevant to the main plot (involving characters like Grunt or Samara) for every 10 follows/favorites the story gets. They'll be specially labeled. Let us be off!

 **SR2 Normandy - Tali**

She had spent the last 40 hours at her workstation without sleep, without rest. She had only taken 5 minutes off total, just enough time to grab a tube of flavorless nutrient paste from her supply in the kitchen and slide it into the proper slot in her suit. Tali was exhausted and frustrated. The ship had only supposedly sustained only minor damage in their short battle with the collector vessel they'd encountered previously, EDI and Joker had independently described the damage done by the Collector's Thanix as 'Minor and superficial', but she didn't buy it.

The engines weren't reacting reacting like they should. She was only getting about 93% of the thrust she should have been getting in simulations, and after they'd dropped Shepard off on Tuchanka she'd had Joker take a couple trips around the system and she got the same result as the simulations. She scratched her helmet, there wasn't a software issue. The countless hours she'd spent flying through the code that controlled the ship's flight path and maneuvering had convinced her of that. Which meant there was a hardware or structural issue. Either problem would be troublesome for their mission.

If there was a hardware issue it could probably be fixed without too much trouble, she and Ken could do a spacewalk and fix it, but the ship would be less combat ready than normal. At least until the problem was fixed. That wasn't to mention the cost either. If there was a structural problem…it would be catastrophic. The Normandy would be forced to dry dock, the hull could be stripped off, the crew would have to disembark, and the cost would be extravagant. The bill could jet upwards of 10 million credits. She knew Shepard had a little money set aside, but there was no way he could pay for that bill on his own.

She wanted to start crawling around in the ducts around the drive core and inspect the main titanium beams of the ship's superstructure, but she was just too tired. She turned back from her console and stood up straight, yawning, she reached her arms above her head and stretched out. She needed a nap and some food, then she would start worming her way through the Normandy's various tunnels. She stepped away from her console, heading out of engineering she shouted back over her shoulder, "Daniels, you're in charge until I get back. I just need a nap."

All Tali heard in response was a sharp "Yes Ma'am!" She liked Ken and Gabby, they were dependable and kind. Not what she'd expected from Cerberus.

She stepped into the elevator to head up to the crew deck when her omni-tool pinged. Tali almost groaned out loud, please let it not be Daniels needing her help already. She needed to sleep! She slowly lifted her arm and looked at her omni-tool in confusion, it wasn't from Gabby. She'd gotten a message from Auntie Raan? They had just spoken the previous morning about how development of their new home was going, what had come up between now and then? She opened the message.

"What?!" Tali collapsed to the floor.

She was still sitting there when the elevator opened on the crew deck, and still there when it closed. She had no idea how long she sat in that spot, but eventually the door opened and Shepard stood there. He came in slowly, taking his time. He tensed up, as if in pain, when he lowered himself down next to her. Subconsciously, despite her shock, she made a mental note to ask about that. Unlike the last time he had come to comfort her, he didn't put care into making sure he didn't touch her suit, if anything he was leaning into her.

"EDI told me you were in hear, what's wrong Tali? Is there anything I can do to help?"

She started to cry. Shepard hadn't avoided her after their…encounter before the Omega 4 relay, but neither of them had spoken about it. It had hurt, but she assumed that they would discuss it later, and she knew he cared about her. That was why the message from the flotilla broke her heart. She leaned into him. When he put an arm around her she told him, "I got a message from the fleet, from Raan."

"And? What did it say?" He gently prodded, trying to get to the bottom of what was bothering her.

She still could barely believe it, even with the time she had been processing it, the whole thing felt like some kind of sick fairytale. "Raan…she told me I was selected to take my father's seat on the Admiralty Board." She paused, barely registering the look of shock on Shepard's face. "It's not because of what you did for us, at least not directly. Raan made sure I passed the nomination, knowing I would be picked by the Conclave. People loved my father, and I inherited all of his fans. And more I guess for the planet you convinced the council to give us."

She looked up expectantly waiting to hear from Shepard. He looked at the floor for a moment before realization dawned on his face, "If you accept this appointment you'll have to leave the Normandy?"

She nodded.

"Do you want to go?" She shook her head.

"You don't have to, you know that right? You'll always have a home here on the Normandy, with your friends."

"Just my friends?" She looked at him and saw the indecision on his face, she didn't want to force this now. "I have to go, Auntie told me about the political situation back with the flotilla. There's a tie right now with the Admirals. If the new Admiral doesn't support peace with the Geth, the fleet will go to war."

The indecision was gone now, his face was filled more with desperation than anything else, "Can't someone else take the spot?"

She shook her head, "The next major contender supports fighting the Geth, he has the support of Gerrel and Xen."

She watched as he turned away from her and swallowed, "Tali, I haven't been fair to you. Admittedly, I'm not sure what I want. For us I mean. But, I do know that I enjoy being around you and that I don't want you to go." He looked to the ground, "But you have to. For your people." He got up, waved open the elevator doors and stepped out.

Tears were streaming down her face. She just watched him go.

 **The Citadel - Councilor David Anderson**

He had had enough. The last two days had been some of the worst he'd ever experienced. He was still running the Human embassy and putting up with all the crap he had before Galactic politics had blown up by the mainstream realization the Reapers existed and were coming. Shepard had shown up and stuck a fire under the Council's behind, something Anderson more than approved of. His ability to deal with the consequences of the sudden uptick in action however, was devastated when Sparatus was kidnapped as it was left to him alone to defend their military agenda before an Asari Councilor aggressively questioning every move and expenditure.

He had been thrilled when the Turians suggested that the Alliance work closely with their chain of command to prepare for the Repears. And he'd been right to be excited, the result was a shocking improvement in galactic military readiness over a matter of days, the Turians and humans were corroborating on Dreadnaught designs and would be churning them out as fast as they could build them. Combining that with the Carriers the Turians were building, and the galaxy was seeing its most rapid military expansion since the Hierarchy burst onto the scene during the Krogan rebellions. He was proud of getting the Turians to start building the Carriers, they had proved themselves effective against Reapers in the Battle of the Citadel nearly three years ago, which was on top of the surprise they'd given the Hierarchy during the First Contact War.

The Turians were the easy ones to convince really, the hard part was getting the politicians on Arcturus to buy that Humanity would be better off giving their secret warship plans to the most militaristic race in the galaxy. That was the part he had had enough of, the bureaucracy. And it didn't help that after he had done the work to prepare for this war, to unify the galaxy as much as he could on this damn station, that it all went to hell when Sparatus got nabbed.

So he was stuck trying to hold off Tevos from interfering with the military build up. His plans to get rid of the limits on Dreadnaught construction for minor races were dead until the Turians gave him someone new to work with.

He was about to get up and head to lunch at a nice little Asari cafe he had found around the corner when his terminal beeped. For a moment he was confused, not many people had his personal address. Then he realized it was from Shepard,

" Anderson, I have intelligence to believe that the Quarians are in a political struggle to determine whether to strike at the Geth. Can you verify this?"

He typed back, "Council hadn't known this. Last briefing I got was that they were setting up a planetary defense network. Possibly related? I will look into this and forward any intel I get to you. I will speak Valern." May as well ask the ultimate spymaster.

Shepard responded quickly, "How is the Krogan deal coming, this is pressing."

Anderson shook his head, he understood Shepard's impatience with the process, he really did. He himself really resented how slowly the Citadel moved on things and tried to hurry them up, but he still had limits to how quickly he could move. "No luck, deal won't happen until we find Sparatus or get a new Turian Councilor. Before you ask, no luck in locating him. The Turian Imperator is in the process of selecting a temporary sub now." He shut down his terminal and stepped out.

Crossing the hall he knocked on the door to Udina's office, he needed the slimy bastard's help. The door slid open for him, "Donnell, we're going to lunch. I'll buy, come on." He turned around without waiting for a response. The routine wasn't terribly unusual, and Udina never turned down the offer for a free meal. He stepped out of the embassy and turned right, it was just a short walk down the path along the Presidium's lake. He was still unhappy about the way the repairs to the Citadel had been done. They prioritized air car travel and made walking less convenient. It was a shame, the Citadel had so much beauty and the architects had chosen to hide it. Anderson was sure there was a good quote about that somewhere.

He ducked into the small café and ordered the Asari version of a cappuccino. He allowed himself few luxuries, coffee was one of them. Udina followed him in just moments behind and ordered a frappé, "I was in important negotiations with several independent colonies outside Alliance space, I hope this is important."

"Everything I do is important Udina, you should know that." Anderson loved teasing the bastard. He was a politician and an angsty one at that, "On a more serious not, I need a favor. Sparatus' disappearance has made getting our agenda through the Council near impossible, you're brilliant at this, you know that." Udina nodded as Anderson continued, "I need you to stay here in my place. I'm going to Palaven to deal with the Turian government directly." He nearly laughed when Udina spit out the sip he had been taking of his drink. This was why Anderson kept the man around.

"You can't be serious, that isn't how negotiations are done."

"They'll have to be for now. Without a Turian councilor I can't prepare for this war. If we don't prepare for the coming war we'll all die. Simple logic really."

"So let me get this straight, you're going to get on a ship with God knows who, fly to Palaven, and knock on the door of their Capital building asking to speak to the Primarch?"

Anderson smiled, "That's pretty much the plan yeah."

Udina just shook his head before walking out of the café "Thanks for the coffee and the temporary promotion boss. Take a lot of sunscreen to Palaven with you, the radiation really isn't good for your skin."

Anderson chuckled, Udina was a dick, but he would do a good job. It was almost time for him to start booking his travel plans, but first he had a meeting with Valern. He needed to get to the bottom of what happened to Sparatus and figure out what the hell the Quarians were doing.


	13. Revenge

Hey everyone, sorry for the relative delay on this one. I had midterms (all done with those now) and another javascript program to write. Here's a fun little expedition to tie up a plot point from ME2. The story is closing on 20 Favs + Follows. I'll put out a little POV for Grunt first when that happens. To make up for the delay this chapter is longer than average! Let us be off.

 **A Jungle outside a Blue Sun Base - Shepard**

He used a machete to cut back at the dense green vines in front of him. He'd found it on the body of one of the Blue Suns scouts they had found guarding the perimeter of their target, the mercenary wouldn't be needing the steel blade any longer. Shepard hacked at the oversized weeds once again and tried to push through the gap he'd created. All he received for his trouble was a large cut on his face from one of the inch-long thorns on the plants. "Zaeed, this place sucks."

The gruff old mercenary just stared at him, "This isn't a beach vacation Shepard. We're here to kill that fucker Vido and blow shit up."

"I know, but if he'd been hiding at a beach resort I wouldn't be complaining." Shepard cut through another layer of thorny vines and was overjoyed to see that he'd managed to cut through to another path.

He needed to keep his mind of what was happening with Tali, with the Council, with the Krogan, it was too much all at once. This was his chance to do that. He'd asked Liara about Vido and she pretty quickly managed to tell him where the bastard was hiding. As it turned out there were actual perks to being friends with the Shadow Broker. Taking out the old Broker had been risky and beyond challenging, but having control of the largest information network in the galaxy was a big deal. He was just beginning to realize how useful it was to know where your targets were and when. He shook himself out of his thoughts as he looked down the path in front of him.

There were four mercenaries sitting around a fire and laughing. His abilities weren't the best for moments like this. He'd been a vanguard his entire life, and although his reconstruction at the hands of Cerberus gave him the strength and stamina of a soldier, he still wasn't as good a sniper as he would have liked. Shepard looked back to Zaeed for help.

"Fine Shepard, I'll take care of them from here." Shepard motioned for Thane to help Zaeed with the mercs. He'd brought Thane instead of Grunt. While he had felt bad seeing the disappointed look on the young Krogan's face, he knew it was the right call. Both he and Zaeed were angry and at risk of going out of control. As much as Grunt had matured, he still wasn't exactly a voice of reason. Thane was the ultimate voice of calm, a much better choice.

Bringing Thane also meant they had the ability to go in stealthy until they assaulted the base itself. Doing so would prevent the Suns from marshaling their forces in advance. As much as Shepard appreciated a tank-like Krogan at his back, he knew they weren't the most stealthy soldiers.

The two men lined up their shots and waited a moment, Shepard was watching their backs in case any scouts they had missed stumbled upon them. The Commander heard two sets of shots and a few seconds later he felt Thane lightly tapping on his shoulder. They were done. The three headed down the path they had just cleared, able to avoid the prickly vegetation that surrounded them on all sides. The facility was just ahead. It appeared to have been carved into the mountain, as the modern glass and steel structure was butted right up against a stone wall stretching a thousand feet into the air.

They stayed around a bend from the clearing at the front of the base. The team had identified the open area on satellite imagery and made plans in advance. Zaeed had given them tips on how the Suns defended major bases. There would be turrets, missile launchers, and dozens of mercenaries guarding the entrance. Their forces would be thinner inside though. "This ain't no dump like the last time we found Vido Shepard, this place is damn important"

"Liara described it as a 'sector headquarters', and her information should be right. I can only figure that most Suns nowadays are willing to say anything for a few extra credits. Not the most loyal troopers."

Zaeed mumbled back, "Fucker Vido always knew how to spend his money."

It took them a few more moments to assemble the gear and heavy weapons they'd brought to assault the base. Shepard handed Zaeed the ML-78 Missile Launcher that he had requested from the Fifth Fleet before they'd rendezvoused with the Normandy the prior week. Zaeed grunted before quickly turning the corner and setting up a line of fire on the base and unleashing havoc. The ML-78 was a substantial upgrade over the 77 that Shepard had used during their mission against the Collectors. The clip size was increased to almost 40 rockets and each shot contained a more powerful explosive agent, the result was devastating. When Shepard made his move on the base, not 15 seconds after Zaeed, the exterior was already a wreck. Rockets had locked on to and annihilated every turret in site, missile launchers had been taken out and resulted in chain reactions that created huge gaps in the front wall of the structure, and a field of gore lay before him. Fast reaction troops had emerged from their barracks with impressive speed, only to be met by high explosives shooting toward them. The Suns had never stood a chance.

Scanning the clearing with his assault rifle Shepard failed to find a single target. He looked back toward Zaeed who just shrugged, "Turns out people and explosives don't mix, who knew?"

Shepard just shook his head, the old man was good at what he did. Certainly a little insane, but definitely someone that you want on your side. He had a good team, Zaeed was one of the best fighters he'd ever met, Thane was an incredibly useful third team member. He was probably the second best sniper he had ever met, behind only Garrus. Despite being only a few months old Grunt could hold his own against most Battle-masters. Tali was the best tech specialist he knew of in the galaxy and an excellent Chief Engineer to boot…Tali. He couldn't escape thinking about her. He regretted that he hadn't told her how he truly felt, worried that it was too late now that she had such a large commitment to her people. Worst of all, he felt helpless that despite being a war hero and a Spectre he couldn't do anything to keep the people he cared most about close to him.

That was why he had come down to this damn jungle, to avoid thinking about those things, to avoid thinking about how if he failed everyone he cared about would be liquefied and pumped into a baby Reaper. He just wanted to kill a bunch of slavers and pirates without the weight of the galaxy sitting on his shoulders. Was that really too much to ask?

He sighed. Based upon the last three years when he was the only one to try stopping Saren or the Collectors, not to mention being _brought back from the dead,_ he apparently was the only one. He forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He was here to take out a scumbag who had hurt his friend that was it.

"Alright Zaeed, time to go get Vido." Shepard stepped through the front door of the base and into an empty foyer. Zaeed put the missile launcher onto his back and pulled out his Assault Rifle while Thane followed a little further behind wielding a sniper rifle. Shepard glanced around, despite being filled with broken glass, rubble, and being generally torn apart he could tell the room had once been opulent. Beautiful carved wood adorned the railings of stairs that curled down toward the door, antique paintings of Earth covered the walls, and stained glass had filled the windows before Zaeed had blown them apart with his missile launcher.

Liara hadn't been able to give them a map of the place, but her intel suggested that Vido's office was on the top floor in the northwest corner. Shepard had snorted upon hearing that. Of course the arrogant mercenary king would want a corner office in spite of the obvious security risk it posed. They headed slowly up the stairs, Shepard was on point followed closely by Zaeed and Thane. Shepard motioned them forward into the first room, raising his hand he held up three fingers, then two, then one. He kicked the door in and Thane threw a flash-bang into the room. He followed it in after making sure his eyes were shielded from the explosion. Three contacts, two of which were stunned.

He swung the barrel of his rifle to the left and let out three rounds into the first target's center of the mass. As the first mercenary crumpled to the floor, he shifted to the right and fired another burst into the figure in the middle, Zaeed had followed him in and taken care of the third Blue Sun before he could fire on the team. Shepard looked at his squamates and nodded before walking over to the armored figures on the ground and relieving of their weapons and the few credits they were carrying.

There was one other door in the room, and based on the layout of the building Shepard assumed it would be Vido's office. They lined up outside the door, "Zaeed, you'll get your chance to kill him and I promise I won't interfere, but let's take him alive. What he knows could be of use to us."

"Don't worry Shepard, once we have that bastard I'll be more than willing to take my time." Zaeed grinned, seemingly happier than he'd been in a long time. Shepard held up his hand and motioned: three, two, one. He opened the door and dove through to the ground, Thane and Zaeed took out the two mercenaries, they looked like lieutenants, on the sides while Shepard shot a Batarian standing next to Vido straight through the middle of the forehead. That's when he spotted him. Someone Shepard had longed to meet again since a fateful day above Terra Nova.

"Thane, Zaeed, hold fire!" There were only five of them left alive in the room. His team of three and directly across a large cherry wood desk from them were Vido and Balak. The Batarian terrorist had been eluding authorities ever since Shepard had been forced to let him go. He had hated letting the monster walk, but he couldn't bring himself to let the civilians Balak had been threatening to kill die.

Vido had his hands in the air and looked ready to pee his pants as he gazed at Zaeed in fear. Zaeed loved it, "You're a big tough guy without your men aren't you Vido?"

"Zaeed…it was just business, I felt terrible that I had to do it. You were my friend!"

Shepard looked at Zaeed and nodded, "He's all yours, just make sure you have access to all his contacts. You remember what we discussed earlier?"

"Of course, not every Goddamn day I get the offer to take over the largest merc group in the galaxy." Zaeed walked around the table and grabbed Vido by the throat, "And I am going to have so much fun getting all of that information out of you." He grinned and poked at his missing eye before gesturing toward Vido's own right eye. Shepard shuddered as the two of them walked out and back down the way they had come up. The Blue Sun leader was a thief, a murderer, and a general dirtbag…but he certainly wouldn't want to be him right now. Zaeed would take his time with him.

Time to turn to the elephant in the room.

"Balak, what the hell are you doing here and why shouldn't I put a bullet in each of your four ugly eyes?"

The Batarian just stared back at him in disgust, refusing to answer. Thane looked to Shepard, "I take it this man has committed a crime of some magnitude?"

Shepard kept his gun and his gaze on Balak, "Yeah, tried to direct an asteroid onto a Human colony and kill millions of innocent people a couple years back. I stopped him just in the nick of time, had to let him go. I won't again."

Thane nodded and stepped forward to face Balak and look him in the eyes, "I have made an attempt at the end of my life to make up for the many evils I have done. Some of those evils were making others feel pain," he paused to emphasize his point, "I have gained a large amount of experience with my Batarian targets."

Shepard saw that as Thane spoke Balak, who had to that point done a remarkably good job of keeping his emotions in check, was unable to prevent fear from flashing through his eyes. He smiled, leave it to the meditative Drell to create more fear than any other member of his team. Shepard sincerely hoped that Thane had more time left before Kepral's Syndrome restricted his abilities. He would desperately need the Drell's help in the conflict to come.

His focus shifted to Balak as the terrorist began to speak, "I needed help, and Vido offered it in exchange for goods I had on hand: weapons, drugs, and slaves. Take me to the council and I'll tell you everything."

Shepard gestured to Thane that he should take the lead. The assassin had shown a remarkable ability to get people to talk during their time together. "Mr. Balak, why should we trust that you have something to share with us?"

Bala smiled in a manner that made the Commander's skin crawl. It was a perfect cross between glee and sadism and the fact that one of Shepard's most hated enemies wore it only made things worse. "What I will tell the Council," Balak let the smirk covering his face fall away, "concerns the Reapers."

Shepard glared at him, unsure of whether to believe the claim. He glanced at Thane, who just nodded. Balak was telling the truth. Shepard walked around the table and dropped his gun to his side, no longer pointing it at the terrorist. The moment Balak grinned, knowing Shepard was taking him to the Citadel, the Commander brought his weapon up and cracked the back of the Batarian's head with it, knocking him to the ground unconscious. "You are under arrest, and because I am a Spectre you do not have the right to remain silent or the right to an attorney. I have you now you slimy four eyed bastard."

"I can tell you have disdain for this man Commander, but he is still unconscious. Your speech will not influence him."

"I know Thane, I've been wanting to say that for years is all." As he finished his sentence Shepard heard a high pitched scream outside that lasted for an unnaturally long time. He raised his hand to his ear when it ended, "Joker, send the shuttle down to pick us up, and prepare cargo deck for a prisoner. We have to take this one back to meet with the Council."

Not a moment after he cut the comm to the Normandy another scream pierced his ears, he glanced at Thane who shook at the painful noise. He had no desire to know what the old man was doing to Vido. The scream became even louder. Zero. Interest. He hefted Balak onto his shoulder and began to carry him down the stairs, at least something in his life was going right. He sighed, now he just needed to figure out what what he was going to say to Tali.


	14. Truth

Like I said, here's the chapter I promised would be out today. Here's some Palaven and more Shepard and Tali. There's a lot going on in the galaxy right now and I hope the outline I've provided in the chapter gives people a sense of where things are going. Everything ties together in its own way though, trust me. We're getting close to the magic number of 20 favorites/follows, when we hit that I plan to drop the Grunt POV chapter. I'm pretty happy with how that one turned out, so I'm excited to hear what you think of it. Anyhow, here's the first real heart to heart Shepard and Tali get as well as some Anderson. Let us be off.

 **Palaven - Councilor David Anderson**

The Captain of the freighter had been beyond confused when Anderson had come up and requested passage on their run home to Palaven. The Turian hadn't recognized him but was perplexed as to why a human would want passage to a world both physically hostile to him and unpopular with tourists. Despite the Captain being hesitant at first, Anderson's credits and willingness to sleep in the cargo hold had convinced him to accept the passenger. The trip was uneventful and the freighter reached Palaven after only a day and a half of travel. They stopped and made port in an industrial area of Palaven, it wasn't the prettiest place he'd been, but the city was a heck of a lot cleaner than a factory district back on Earth.

As Anderson stepped off the freighter he stretched his arms above his head. He mused that he was getting too old to sleep on cold steel floors. He walked down the ramp and into the scorching Palaven sun. People weren't kidding about how brutal the radiation was, he felt his skin begin to redden after just a minute under the bright light. He hurried his way through the docking area and into the nearest public building. The architecture was simple. The structures were almost all metal and concrete with basic shapes and little exterior decoration. It fit with what he knew of the Turians, straightforward and dedicated to the end rather than the journey. They weren't a people know for their leisure or art. He had spotted a few of the pyramid shaped megastructures Palaven was famous for far off in the distance.

Anderson took his time looking around the lobby of the building he had ducked into. While it wasn't exactly a visitors center, there was staff roaming the floor. The ceiling was far above him, at least 25 feet, and like the floor and walls, it was a shiny silver color. There was a lone contemporary looking art piece sitting in the corner of the building, he figured it was more for the few aliens he could see than for the native Turians. Approaching one of the employees he asked for help, "Son, I'm here as a visitor and there are a few things I would like to know. Is it possible for you to help me?"

The Turian gazed at him, looking Anderson up and down before responding, "You don't look like an arms dealer. I take it you only came into this port for travel?"

Anderson chuckled, "Technically I'm one of the largest arms dealers in the galaxy, but you're right, that's not what I'm here for. I was looking for a way to keep my skin from peeling off completely and hoping you could point me in the direction of the nearest transit center. I was hoping to visit the Capital while I was here."

The young Turian nodded, "A large number of offworlders come through the port here. We have some special clothing and skin cream that should help you deal with the radiation, I can sell you the items for a pretty modest price. As for a shuttle to the Capital, there's a transit station about a block from here. The best way to get to the capital isn't actually a shuttle, a loop train would be much faster and I think it's more affordable. The trip should only be an hour or so. If you'll follow me to the desk I can get you your items."

After the Councilor paid for the items and put them on he vigorously thanked the young man and departed the structure. While the clerk hadn't been paying attention Anderson had managed to copy some information off of his omni-tool. It wasn't for a nefarious purpose. The man's name would be mentioned to a few important people and he would no doubt get some positive attention from his superiors. If there was one thing Anderson didn't hate about his being in a position of power it was his ability to bring notoriety to those who were helpful or kind without needing to be, and the young man had been both. Anderson wasn't a typical customer and he had still been assisted.

The Turian, Harrius, had given him excellent directions and he quickly came upon a structure his Omni-tool told him was labeled 'TRANSIT'. He entered the building and waved his Omni-tool at a payment station which promptly let him through. The whole experience was remarkably like a subway station back on Earth, turnstile and all. He followed his Omni-tool's directions to a blue-colored train that was apparently supposed to take him to the Capital. The design was almost identical to a hyper-loop back home. A small car would run just shy of the speed of sound through a tube kept at a near vacuum. He stepped into the small car and sat down in an uncomfortable seat. He supposed this was how Turians felt sitting in seats designed for the Human anatomy. Anderson dearly hoped that the ride would be similar to the ones he was used to back home, something needed to make up for how sore his back was going to be when the ride finally ended.

 **SR2 Normandy - Shepard**

Things had finally started to go right for him. He had a nearly flawless mission to take out Vido and get revenge for Zaeed, Balak was conveniently there and was easily captured, and he had just gotten word that a Council strike team, led by none other than the Butcher of Torfan, had managed to clear the Collector ship the Normandy had disables in the Arlakh system and recover all of the prisoners the Collectors had taken from the Overwatch. Better yet was the news that the ship contained large amounts of highly advanced technology that would greatly improve the fighting capability of the galaxy's armies and prepare them for the Reapers.

Perhaps the best news was that Zaeed was having early success taking over leadership of the Blue Suns. If Zaeed was successful the Commander would have the premier intelligence network in the galaxy and a massive private army at his back. Shepard didn't assume that Zaeed would do everything he asked of him, but at the end of the day, the old man knew what was coming. He knew that Shepard was the best chance to stop it, and that would be enough for Zaeed to bring his forces to bear.

Shepard got up from the desk in his cabin and walked to the door. Now he just had to deal with the more personal issue that he faced. He'd decided he was going to talk to Tali and tell her how he felt. Shepard couldn't bear the thought of her leaving the Normandy without him finally telling her how he felt. The Commander was hardly one to wear his feelings on his sleeves, but keeping everything pent up inside for so long had slowly been driving him insane. He stepped into the elevator that was conveniently already on the first deck. He'd never thought about why it always seemed to be waiting for him, "EDI, do you manage the elevators to make them more efficient?"

"Yes Commander, given that their is a single elevator in the ship to move between floors, the ship's designers determined that intelligent allocation of the resource was important."

"Well, that answers that. Thank you EDI."

"Of course, signing you off Commander."

Shepard hit the button for Engineering, better better to speak to Tali sooner rather than later. The door closed and Shepard waited an agonizing few minutes for the car to descend all the way to Engineering. If only EDI would optimize the darn thing's speed. Eventually the doors slid open and he stepped out. It was a brief few steps into Engineering before he spotted Tali. She had her back to him and didn't seem to notice his entrance. Ken and Gabby did though, and they were making encouraging gestures with their hands, he rolled his eyes. Clearly he and Tali's heart to heart in the elevator hadn't stayed between the two of them.

He came up behind her and hesitated, unsure of how she would react if he tapped her on the shoulder. He cleared his throat. "Tali?…"

She turned, and he swore he could see her face light up beneath her faceplate. While Shepard knew he really couldn't have, the helmet remained as opaque as ever, he liked to think he was able. She hesitated before asking, "Shepard, would you like to talk?"

"That's why I'm here Tali, I've done some thinking and there's…a lot to say."

She gestured out of engineering and began walking, he followed her into Zaeed's old room. The mercenary hadn't been aboard since getting ahold of Vido. The door closed behind them and she turned to face him, "Shepard, you said before that you didn't know what you wanted. Do you now?" He heard the false bravado in her voice. The sound of her desperation was hidden behind an effort to appear strong and confident.

"Tali, I've thought about what I said and what's happened. I shouldn't have walked out on you like that before." He looked into her glowing eyes, "And I don't want you to go. I meant what I said, I enjoy being around you, I love the way you get frazzled and confused when you run into an unfamiliar situation, I care about you Tali." He sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall underneath the trash compactor. Tali followed suit and sat down next to him.

"Shepard…"

He interrupted, "I don't want to pressure you if you don't feel the same way."

Shepard watched Tali's head drop and heard her voice sadden when she responded, "I love you John Shepard, please don't doubt that." Shepard heard her begin to cry. "But I can't stay, even to be with you."

He knew where this was going, "If you stay your people will die, I know. That doesn't mean we can't make this work. We have to go to the Citadel before we can meet up with the Migrant Fleet, and even when we do we need to try and work with the Geth."

When she spoke again he could hear the smile had returned to her face, "Diplomacy tends to take a while, you could be stuck with me for a while."

He laughed, "Never thought I would be happy to be dealing with gridlock." He put his arm over her shoulder and she leaned into him. They sat together in silence for a moment. Just the two of them, knowing how the other really felt for the first time.

Shepard finally spoke again, "Any ideas on how to bring up the Geth actually wanting peace to the Admiralty Board?"

Tali was practically purring his embrace, "I hardly believe the Geth are friendly myself Shepard, and I've been in combat beside Legion for months. I have no idea how to convince other Quarians."

"Maybe we don't start with the Quarians. If we get the Alliance to open relations with the Geth first we can start to build goodwill with the Council. Eventually that should turn into Board opening their minds to the idea of negotiations. The Alliance would be the ideal choice too, after Eden Prime they have more bad blood with the Geth than anyone other than your people."

"I'm not sure Shepard. Why would the Alliance open up to the Geth? And besides, the Board would be beyond suspicious of the negotiations, there's still a lot of resentment toward other species on the fleet. Three hundred years of neglect and suspicion don't disappear right away."

"Hopefully the Alliance's assistance in helping build your new home world counts for something, and I should have a lot of goodwill for forcing the Council to grant the new planet, right?"

"It's still a risk though. That said…We really only need to convince one of the other Admirals. Koris already openly supports reconciliation with the Geth. All we need to do is convince Raan or Gerrel. Xen will never support working with the Geth, she's much too opposed to the idea of synthetic life self-determinating."

"So we have a plan then? Head to the Citadel and deal with Balak, then head to Arcturus and convince Parliament to talk to the Geth, and then finally go and get the Quarians to do the same?"

Tali giggled, "You make changing the galaxy sound so simple and easy."

"I'm sure we'll encounter plenty of people trying to kill us, that seems to be how these things work. And in the mean time we found a way to keep you around for awhile."

She hugged him, "What's new you great big bosh'tet?"

"I'll need to talk to Legion and make sure the Collective will agree." He moved to stand up and return to work, but Tali pulled him back down to the floor.

"No you don't, you're staying with me for a while. The galaxy can wait to get their hero back." She rested her head on his shoulder and quickly fell asleep. Shepard sighed, things really were going his way. He was tired, hadn't slept since before the mission to take out Vido. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep, he dreamed of peace, a beach, and the girl in his arms.


	15. Grunt

Hey everyone, I'm still here and posting, I'll have another chapter in the next couple of days. We hit 20 Favorites/Follows so here's the Grunt POV! I'm really excited about all the views and committed readers this story has gotten so far, it's really encouraging for me to see as a writer. As for the chapter and Grunt, he's really different than any character I've worked on before, so it was tough. I think I did a reasonable job with Grunt, but he is a very different character, so leave any reviews or send any PMs that you want, I'm curious to hear what you think. With that, let us be off!

 **Tuchanka - Grunt**

The other Krogan came at him in a bullrush, letting his bloodlust get the better of him. Grunt stepped to the side and caught him in his oversized arms. He was driven back several steps but finally managed to stop his opponent's momentum. The instant the pair stopped moving Grunt planted his right foot on the ground and threw the other Urdnot over his hip and onto the ground. Not wanting to give his opponent the opportunity to stand and return to the fight, Grunt pounced. He had held back his natural urges thus far, held back his bloodlust. No longer. Grunt began to wail on the other Krogan. He felt his fists pound into flesh and could hear bone shattering underneath his brutal assault. Warm blood splattered across his face as his opponent's attempts to push the larger Krogan off became weaker and weaker until they had the power of a small child striking his hide. Grunt relished in the brutality and violence.

"Enough!" Urdnot Wrex's voice boomed through the grand hall and the room went silent. The only one of his instincts more primal than bloodlust took over, his obedience to the alpha. Grunt's assault slowed to a stop. For a brief moment a part of him resisted the call, urged him to challenge Wrex, it whispered in his ear that he was pure Krogan descended from the greatest warriors of his species, that _he_ should lead the Krogan to a new golden age. He suppressed it.

Wrex had millennia of experience in battle that he lacked, and the rational part of Grunt knew that even if he managed to defeat Wrex he could never continue what the older Krogan had started. Wrex had changed their people and the planet that they called home. Even in the few days since he had landed on Tuchanka with Shepard, the home of Urdnot looked different: paintings had dried, more rubble had been removed, and a team was working to connect the main hall with a new structure being built adjacent to the main hall. For the first time in centuries, the Krogan were building instead of destroying. The world was looking more like the prosperous home Grunt had seen in the Tank and less like the nuclear wasteland it had become, and Grunt was no fool. He was young, reckless, and relished violence as much as any Krogan, but he understood what was important. He was born to guide his people, he couldn't live out that purpose if the Krogan were extinct.

"Brawn has been defeated. Unless some other fool with a death wish wants to challenge Urdnot Grunt for the leadership of Arlakh company, he will lead the mission." Wrex's eyes looked up and down the circle of Krogan that had formed around the fight, challenging them. No one stepped forward. "Very well. Grunt," Grunt stood and stepped away from his blood covered opponent, "you are to lead Arlakh into the grand valley and call for the clans to unite under the Urdnot banner." Wrex's voice shifted from being directed at Grunt to booming across the entire room, "It is time that we unite our people under a single banner! It is time we announce to the galaxy that the Krogan are not doomed to a slow and silent death!" A roar filled the room as Urdnot and the allied clans cheered at the battle cry. It was the pronouncement of rule for the first true Krogan warlord in a millennium.

 _12 Hours Later_

Grunt had been in a damn Tonkah for more than 10 hours at this point. The mission hadn't been the glorious journey filled with battle he had imagined when he was tasked with command of Arlakh. The first few clans they had met either bowed before Grunt (who was Wrex's representative) or fled from him. Those who ran weren't worth his time. They weren't real Krogan.

He was beginning to regret Shepard's sending him back to Tuchanka. His warlord had informed him that he wouldn't be going after that Blue Sun leader with him, but Shepard told him that he had another important task for him instead. He had sent Grunt in a Kodiak back to Tuchanka, ostensibly to protect Mordin, but in reality to beat the living daylights out of those stupid enough to oppose Wrex or a progressive vision of the Krogan's future. It had been fun at first, there were a few individuals foolish enough to challenge his initial appointment as a 'Lieutenant', but it took only a handful of beatdowns for them to realize that despite his youth Grunt was more than they could handle.

Since then Grunt hadn't had a good fight, and more importantly didn't feel he was doing anything useful. He was journeying around as an enforcer, nothing more. He was better than this, bred from the DNA of the greatest Krogan.

The wall of the Tonkah groaned when Grunt punched it. The steel armor dented outwards a couple of inches and the Krogan next to him, Prul, lurched to the side in order to distance himself from Grunt. After the fights to determine the leader of Arlakh, no one was willing to challenge him one on one.

"Captain, what is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong Prul. I'm itching for a fight."

"We all are Captain."

Grunt smiled, there were some nice things about being around other Krogan.

Before he knew what was happening, his ears were ringing, he was on his back, and he was on the ceiling of the vehicle. One thought flashed through his mind. They were under attack. Grunt's mind shifted to recalling memories Okeer had implanted into him while he was in the Tank. Shiagur had been ambushed by the Turians while riding in a similar vehicle, he pulled the memory out and returned to his reality.

He rolled onto his stomach and, lacking the space to stand, pushed himself onto his hands and knees. As he crawled forward he pulled the oversized shotgun off his back and held it in his massive viselike grip. His men were lying on the ceiling around him, he could tell a few were still breathing, but they wouldn't be of any real help in a fight. His only hope was that the other troops in their Tonkahs were in better shape than those in his. He reached the rear doors of the vehicle and, placing his shoulder into the seam of the two doors, he pushed against them with all his might. His massive legs nearly buckled under the pressure, and he had to rest. He tried again, but the door wouldn't budge. Searching his memories he found the story of Shiagur. He placed his hump against the seem and tried a final time, heaving with all his might. The door burst open as if it had been blasted open by a cannon.

He didn't have a chance to rest after his escape. The scene around him was chaos.

One of the clans, Burk, that had fled when Arlakh appeared at their home, had ambushed the Urdnot forces. He recognized a couple of the clan leaders was they emerged from an overturned Urdnot Tonkah. He strained to see what they were doing and horrified when he deciphered what they had done. They were executing his unconscious troops. In cold blood as they last unconscious in the vehicles. Without a fair fight. Like cowards.

A further realization hit the young Urdnot captain. They were killing _his_ men.

In the distance a few Tonkah's worth of men were fighting against an advancing force of the attacking clan. Arlakh had flipped their vehicles onto their sides and used them for cover. The result was a devastating line of nearly unassailable Korgan firepower. They had committed to the fight and ruined any chance of retreat with their tactics, but forced Burk to assault a wall of death. He saw that they were setting up a team behind the Tonkahs and it took him a moment to figure out why not that groups wasn't on the front line. They were trying to rescue their incapacitated and vulnerable teammates. Grunt knew they wouldn't make it in time. There was simply too much ground for them to cover. He was the only one who could save them.

He got up off the ground he had landed on after his escape from the overturned Tonkah. Grunt was spotted nearly immediately by a nearby Burk Krogan. The Burk came running at him with his shotgun pointed toward Grunt's head. Grunt stepped out of the line of fire and let the shots fly by harmlessly by him. His own shotgun fired three blasts in quick succession. The enemy collapsed as blood poured out of his head and chest. Grunt took a handful of steps forward, pointed his weapon at the Krogan's head and fired one more blast.

"Regenerate that." He spat on the cowardly enemy and turned back toward the squad executing his men.

The gunshots had drawn the attention of other Burks. A half dozen came running toward him with shotguns up and heads down, ready for violent collisions. Knowing he had just a moment, Grunt bent down and picked up the dead Krogan's shotgun in his unequipped hand before turning to face the onslaught of attackers. As the first Krogan reached him he alternated blasts between the two weapons he was dual wielding. Enemy after enemy collapsed under his defense. A couple attackers managed to get close to get within a few meters of him only to be knocked back by head-butts and punishing blows from the butts of his weapons.

Eventually, he was left with a single opponent. He was a massive Krogan who Grunt recognized by his markings as the clan chief. The Chief stepped toward Grunt with malice, "Neither I nor my men will bow before a false prophet like Wrex. He has betrayed the traditions of our people in seeking peace and he sends a boy to fight his battles for him." The Krogan emphasized his point my waving his arms in a violent sideways motion.

Grunt shook his head and bared his teeth to his enemy, "If our traditions do not change, the Krogan will be made extinct, Wrex has the ability to stop it." Grunt paused and menacingly stepped forward, "I am pure Krogan, descended from Shiagur and Kredak, if the Krogan have a future, it is mine. It is my Warlord's. It is Wrex's."

The Chief threw a punch before Grunt was even done speaking, but the Urdnot warrior had anticipated such deception from a coward, he tossed his weapons aside and caught the punch in an oversized paw. He yanked the Chief forward into a powerful headbutt which forced the enemy to stumble away reeling in pain. Grunt charged him, leading with his head, but the maneuver Grunt had pulled back at Urdnot's base was used on him and he felt himself being thrown over the other Krogan's hip and onto the ground. He felt a weight attempt to jump on top of him. Grunt kicked out with his legs to prevent the imminent beating, they made contact with the Burk Chief and forced him off of Grunt. Grunt scrambled to his feet breathing heavily.

He looked for his enemy to see a shotgun pointed at his face, through raspy breaths he shook in rage, "Coward, you dare not fight me in a fair battle."

"I will do what it takes to protect my clan and what it means to be a Krogan." He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He pulled it again and again, unable to understand why it wasn't firing.

Grunt grinned, he had removed the heatsinks before he threw his weapons away. He'd learned the trick from Shepard. He pointed to the butt of the gun, "Nice heatsinks you're missing there." He lunged forward and used both hands to grip the other Krogan's head plate. He pulled with all of his strength and felt its connection to the skull begin to deteriorate and eventually fail. The coward never had a chance to struggle out of his grip. The plate pulled free and he held it in its blood covered glory high in the air as his massive enemy fell to the ground.

All gunfire stopped as Urdnot and Qorn alike turned and stared at the trophy Grunt held in his hands. The battle raging near the overturned Tonkahs ended with Urdnot cheers and Burks throwing their weapons to the ground in surrender. This was why Grunt had been selected to lead Arlakh, to defeat Urdnot's enemies in battle. To strike fear into the hearts of enemies and inspire Urdnot and her allies.

 _A Week Later_

Grunt came before Urdnot Wrex bloody, bruised, and triumphant. In his hands he held three headplates. Each had belonged to a Chieftain from the Grand Valley unwilling to join Urdnot in the unification of Tuchanka. Alongside Grunt were the leaders of 15 clans that had joined more willingly. Five peaceful surrenders for each violent battle Arlakh company had faced. Wrex looked down at his loyal soldier, "Grunt, you did a damn good job." He patted him on the back and whispered into his ear, "I made the right call, even with your youth, we need Krogan like you. I would ask Shepard to let me keep you around, but he needs you even more than I."

Wrex began raising his voice to the crowd and proclaimed, "The Grand Valley is with us and with the additional manpower we will rebuild our peoples' homes! We will rebuild our palaces and wonders! We will rebuild our defenses! Most importantly," Wrex let the moment hang in the air for an instant, "We will rebuild the Krogan!" He pumped his fist in the air and pulled in the newly allied chieftains one after another toward him and head-butted each. It was a tradition for a new warlord of the Krogan people. Each head-butt resulted in a raucous cheer in every corner of the Urdnot base. Each shout echoed in Grunt's ears.

He would return to Shepard to fight his warlord's enemies, but this was home. He had spent a week on Tuchanka, but he felt in his blood that this was where he belonged, leading his people to a new future alongside Urdnot. He turned away from the crowd. He was hungry.


	16. Baristas

Hey, here's a real short chapter from Garrus' point of view. I realized I was neglecting him a little and wanted to get this out quick. I should definitely have another chapter up in the next day or so. Let us be off!

 **The Citadel - Garrus Vakarian**

Garrus was sitting in his favorite café on the Citadel. It was just inside the Presidium, right where Zakera Ward met the stations's ring. It was was a small place, barely enough space for the counter and the few tables pushed snugly up against the window. The counter was directly across from the door and that window, which had a gorgeous view of the Presidium Lake and its various monuments to icons, heroes, and wars. Behind the counter's glass were various sandwiches and pastries, he knew from experience that each was freshly made with high-quality ingredients imported from all over the Milky Way. This was where Garrus had come for years for a small bite to eat, the Turian equivalent of coffee, and to think in peace. He had a great deal to think about right now.

He ordered a reasonably sized sandwich and a drink and was sitting at the table furthest from the door, just gazing out the window at the peaceful world of the Presidium. It was all so calm and perfect. He knew that it was a mirage and that the beauty of the Citadel was a deception. The entire station was a trick to lull civilizations into a false sense of confidence, but he enjoyed the peace nonetheless. It was a much needed departure from the gunslinging he engaged in while on the Normandy. He enjoyed his work, even the tremendous amount of time he spent calibrating the main gun, and trusted in Shepard completely. Shepard's success was that the station was still here and he was on it. The Commander and those that fought with him had earned everyone three years of life, but Garrus knew the Reapers were still coming. It was only a matter of time.

He was growing increasingly worried that despite all the Commander had done and was doing, it wouldn't be enough. Stopping Saren had bought them three years. The battle against the Collectors…protected a few Human colonies? In the whole scheme of things, the primary benefit of stopping Collectors was the proof of the Reapers they had been able to bring before the Council. His real concern was that even with the Council seemingly believing in the Reapers, little concrete preparation was visible. Politics was still hampering any movement toward a meaningful mobilization of the galaxy's militaries. The Turian councilor, Sparatus, had been attacked and kidnapped. And worst of all, Anderson, Shepard's hero and mentor, had disappeared to God knows where.

Garrus paused to ponder. Did Shepard actually have a plan? The Commander claimed he did, but the last few weeks he had been running around the galaxy conducting random landings and assaults, seemingly without a comprehensive strategy. They'd touched down on Tuchanka and dropped Mordin off, but that didn't seem to have actually accomplished anything with getting the Krogan in the fight. Then Shepard had gone and sent away Zaeed and Grunt. That wasn't even to mention Tali, who he knew had to leave at some point to take up her new position as Admiral. That was going to absolutely kill Shepard. The team was splitting apart at the absolutely worst moment, and the galaxy wasn't going in the right direction.

Garrus polished off his drink and lined up his shot. He hesitated only a moment before tossing his empty cup across the room, it landed cleanly in the trash can without even hitting the sides of the garbage bag, a perfect throw. He got a glare from the barista at the counter, but hidden beneath it he thought he saw a smile of sorts. Before he could say anything she went back to her work. He stood up and stretched, he needed a walk and Shepard had wanted to speak to him before they went and took Balak before the Council. As he headed out of the café he gave the barista a wink. He didn't give her a chance to respond, he'd be back in sometime soon.

He stepped out and felt the artificial breeze glide across his face. Being back on the Citadel was a break from the cramped conditions on the Normandy. Even though the SR2 was far larger and more comfortable than the original Normandy, it was still a warship. He headed down the stairs to the lakefront and began walking. The trees hanging over the lake shaded the gravel path from the artificial sunlight bathing the Presidium. There were only a handful of other pedestrians around, a few sat on benches and a Turian couple was holding hands on the other side of the lake. It was beyond tranquil.

Garrus wandered like that for almost an hour, managed almost half a lap around the ring while he let his mind go numb and just enjoyed the scents and sounds of his surroundings. He got to the Krogan Memorial before he started really thinking again. What was he doing? He hadn't spoken to his father, his sister, or his mother in months. He hadn't sent an email to any of his old friends at C-Sec or from his time in the Turian military. He'd gone dark since he left Omega and his identity as Archangel behind.

He stopped walking and looked around. These people were living their lives, enjoying them. Maybe they didn't know about what was going on with the Reapers, or maybe they were in the loop and couldn't bring themselves to believe stories of ancient sentient warships, _but they were living_. If he couldn't return to that, knowing what _he_ was fighting for, he didn't think he would have it in him to keep up the fight. And heck, even if they lost, he may as well enjoy a little bit of the life he had left.

His Omni-tool beeped at him and vibrated on his wrist. It was Shepard, with impeccable timing as always. He twisted his arm and the holographic orange interface turned on almost immediately. When he pulled up the message, he found it was succinct, "Council in 10 minutes, be there Garrus - Shepard".

He began to head up the nearest set of stairs and return to the path above the lake. From there it was only a short trip to the Council chambers in an aircar, he could be there in 10 minutes easily. Garrus paused to consider what had just happened for a moment, how had Shepard known he would be able to get to meet him at the Council so quickly? He could have been at a bar in one of the wards and almost an hour away. It was a heck of an assumption For Shepard to think he was so close. He would have to ask Shepard about it later.

He got to the top of the stairs and requested a car with his Omni-tool. It was only a moment before a dark green vehicle descended from the air and set itself down on the ground in front of him with a barely audible hiss. The door swung open and he climbed in. Modern convenience at its finest. He sat down in the seats which molded itself to fit the Turian anatomy.

The monotone voice of the car prompted him, "What is your requested destination sir?"

"The Citadel Council Chambers, directly please. I have an important appointment to make."

"Very well sir. The Citadel Transit Authority thanks you for your patronage!"

Garrus shook his head, these vehicles were always so well run. Every other agency and government system on the Citadel was a nightmare of paperwork and inefficiency. Whoever got the transit system working deserved more than a medal. Maybe a statue in the Presidium.

The aircar raised itself into the air and sped off toward the Presidium tower. His Omni-tool pinged that money had been debited from his account. He quickly opened it and glanced at the price he'd been charged. Garrus balked, "Shit!" That was a heck of a lot more than remembered from his time at C-Sec just a few years ago. He shrugged, maybe it wasn't terribly well run. He mused that when society throws money at a problem it occasionally works out. Garrus guessed that this was one of those times.

He saw the indicator light was still on on his Omni-tool and he saw that he had a second message, so he flipped it open. It was just a phone number, that was it. He paused, unable to figure out who may have sent it. Then he glanced at the subject, all it said was "Nice Aim". He smiled. As it turned out ladies did like the scars after all.

Maybe he really could get back into enjoying life a little bit more, that barista had been pretty cute. He smiled, he had needed this break.


	17. The Drumbeat of War

I know the last chapter was super short, I wanted to get it out as fast as I could. In return I'm giving you this monster, it's nearly 700 words longer than anything I've put out this far. This is the beginning of the first major arc of the story (no more running around without a meaningful purpose). I hope you guys enjoy where things are headed and like the longer format. As I've said before, I really really appreciate any and all reviews or PMs. In that vain I take your input seriously. I'm doing a slight tweak to how I release POVs as well, I won't put one out every 10 Favs/Follows. Instead I'm putting them out in a dynamically increasing order. So next one will be out when the story hits 32, and then 48, and so on. I just can't keep up if I leave it at 10. Alright, business is done. Let us be off!

 **The Presidium Tower - Shepard**

Shepard was standing just outside the Council Chambers with Tali when Garrus' car stopped in front of them and the Turian climbed out. His mandibles were turned up in the Turian equivalent of a grin and he had a little more energy than usual in his step. "Garrus, you look like you just found a new gun to calibrate, what's going on?"

The former C-Sec officer's mandibles went even higher, "Turns out the ladies do like the scars after all."

Tali took the opportunity to jump in, "Of course they do Garrus, that's why you've brought so many _ladies_ back to the Normandy."

"Hey! Not nice!" Garrus protested, with the look on his facing going from enthusiastic to embarrassed in an instant.

Shepard burst out laughing and he and Tali began to head up the stairs to meet with the Council. Garrus was left standing right where the car had left him, "Guys?" Shepard heard him curse before he quickly followed him and Tali. The Commander climbed the million and a half steps back up to the stand from which guests spoke to the Council. Off to the side of the Council's stage, under the guard of no less than four dour looking C-Sec officers, was Balak. The Batarian looked even less happy than the guards assigned to watch him. He was slouched forward in his seat and his arms and legs were chained together and then to the floor. An orange jumpsuit covered his body and tracking bracelets was attached to both of his wrists and both ankles. C-Sec was seriously about making sure that he didn't escape.

Shepard turned his attention from the prisoner to the Council. The individuals on the stage looked far less friendly to him than the last time he was here. Tevos looked at him with a blank face, her expression carried no information to what she thought of the events of the last couple of weeks. Shepard continued staring but was unable to glean anything useful from her appearance. Valern looked downright angry at Balak's presence in the room. Shepard supposed that was unsurprising. The Salarians had been blamed for the destruction of the Alpha relay, and the consequent Batarian attacks on Salarian shipping hadn't won them any love from the Union. What Shepard knew Balak was going to be revealing was only going to incite further dissatisfaction from the Salarian Councilor. Somehow Udina was the most friendly face staring down from that platform. The Commander knew that Anderson had gone off on a mission of his own and left the Irishman to run the embassy, and as much as Shepard had no particular love of Udina, he knew that they were ultimately on the same team.

The stage still only held three Councilors. The Turian Hierarchy had been slow to send a replacement for Sparatus, and Jondum Bau's investigation had yielded little in the way of results thus far. Shepard knew that was soon to change. Balak had a lot of useful information, and he had given much of it to Shepard already, but the Council needed to hear it from the horse's own mouth. Figuratively speaking of course.

Tevos spoke first, a product of the Asari's position as the oldest council race, "Commander, you have requested for this prisoner to come before us and give testimony. You were quite vague about why. Perhaps you could enlighten us?"

Shepard stepped forward and looked each Councilor in the eye before beginning, "Councilors, I apprehended the terrorist Balak while assaulting a Blue Suns base in the Terminus Systems. He is responsible for numerous attacks on innocent civilians, including but not limited to Mindoir and Elysium as well as an attempt to use an asteroid as a weapon against the garden world of Terra Nova. He was meeting with Vido Santiago, the head of the Blue Suns, and attempting to gain his assistance for an assault on the Batarian homeworld of Khar'Shan. I will let him explain to you why."

The Council turned their attention from Shepard to the chained prisoner. Balak hesitated for a moment, seemingly unwilling to speak. After a glare from Shepard he began, "I hold the rank of Captain within the Hegemony's military. Approximately 20 years ago Batarian explorers discovered a massive warship unlike any the galaxy had seen before. In an effort to hide our discovery from the galaxy at large, and pull the balance of power in our direction, it was taken from its resting spot and hidden in Batarian space. Our people devoted vast sums of money researching the Leviathan of Dis, trying to uncover its origins and secrets."

As Balak spoke Valern looked like he was preparing to jump out of his seat, Shepard could only assume it had something to do with The Salarian's past efforts to prove the Leviathan's existence. Balak, ignoring the Salarian Councilor, kept speaking. Whether he was obvious to the Salarian's response or just didn't care the Commander wasn't certain. "About three years ago, when my attack on Terra Nova failed and the Council chose to welcome the Humans as full members, scientists on the project recommended that the ship be moved to Khar'Shan to ensure security and make research easier." Balak paused ominously, "We know now that it was a trick."

There was utter silence in the vast room. Shepard had heard the story before, and the Councilors clearly knew where this was going. They were hearing the story of entire species' destruction. The death of a civilization far too similar to their own. Balak resumed his tale, "The Leviathan was only on Khar'Shan for approximately a year before High Command started making…strange decisions. Politicians who never set foot on a warship were put in command of cruisers and dreadnoughts. About three months ago the flag officers of the fleet, people who hadn't set foot on Khar'Shan in years, felt that High Command was overstepping its bounds and undermining our military strength. The next day every officer who hadn't been appointed in the last year was ordered to resign their position and return to the Capital. Every single officer refused."

Balak swallowed, his face lost any confidence or swagger that it had held, "There was a battle. The Admirals got together with the top people from intelligence embedded in the fleet and made plans to target the Leviathan with an orbital bombardment. They were going to attempt a coup." He paused, taking a moment before continuing, "The strike on Kar'Shan began as planned. High Command's recent appointments were arrested and imprisoned and the fleet entered the Harsa system without issue, then things went terribly wrong. More recent enlistees stormed the bridge and killed the Admirals before the bombardment could begin. A pair of small reapers with a hastily constructed fleet took off from the planet at the same time and attacked our invasion fleet. We were routed, and the remains of the fleet fled the system losing about half of our combat-ready fleet in the process."

As Shepard looked at Balak, he felt bad for the Batarian for the first time in his life, "Why did I find you meeting with Vido Santiago, the head of the Blue Suns?"

Balak looked up at the Council rather than Shepard, who he knew to already possess the answer. "Because I sought to gain the Sun's help for an invasion of Hegemony held territory. I am the highest ranking remaining officer left in the Batarian military and I have the remaining Hegemony fleet ready to begin the war. We needed a more substantial ground force, and I hoped the Suns would be willing to provide it in exchange for unmolested control of several planets."

As Balak finished his story Shepard scanned the room to witness the reactions of the councilors and any observers. Each of the three Councilors stood with their mouths agape. Shepard knew it was one thing to hear that the Reapers were coming, or that they had allies like the Collectors attacking colonies. It was another thing altogether to hear that there were Reapers in Hegemony space, or that they had overthrown the government of a major galactic power. He began, "Councilors, we can't allow the Reapers use Batarian space as a launching pad to attack our own territory. We need to act."

Udina had recovered from his shock first, "Shepard, what are you proposing we do?"

"I'm proposing a naval assault on Batarian space and a ground invasion of Kar'Shan and any other Reaper controlled planets." He waited for a moment for the muttering in the room to dissipate, "Before you protest, let me explain why. All of my missions against Reaper forces involved fighting ground troops, yet never, not once, did I encounter Reaper troops that weren't husks of other species. Fighting Saren I fought Geth and Human husks, probably all from Eden Prime or Feros. Against the Collectors, I fought Human husks and Collectors, who were themselves husks of the Protheans."

The Councilors gazed at him, not following where he was going. "What I am saying is this, if we do not attack Batarian territory before the Reapers arrive, they will have more time to convert innocent citizens into Husks, more time to build new Reapers, and when the Reaper fleet arrives they'll have an army a billion strong and a base of operations to begin their war from." He walked up and down the platform before the Council's stage taking time to look each Councilor in the eye, "I came here last time to push you to act. To force you to see the reality of what's happening. You claimed to believe me and then did nothing. The only two people who did squat were Anderson and Sparatus, neither of whom are even here today. This is your chance to change that, to take concrete action to protect your people." He finished his speech and gazed up at the stage.

Once again Udina took the initiative, "Humanity will support this effort on the condition it receives support from the other Council races." The Human ambassador turned to face his compatriots.

Valern was the first to respond to Udina's unspoken challenge, "The Union has some…experimental technology it would like to test. We're willing to devote two fleet fleets and our intelligence forces to the effort."

Udina clarified, "Much of our fleet is currently being upgraded with technology to improve its abilities when the Reapers arrive, we can provide 2 fleets of naval support and a substantial ground force."

Valern and Udina looked at Tevos, she looked uncertain for a moment. Shepard turned to face her as well. She looked at the Councilors, then Shepard, then Balak, and finally back to Shepard, "The Republic won't dedicate troops until we hear from the Hierarchy. I do not feel comfortable engaging in military action without the entire Council here." She turned with an arrogant air to her and stormed out of the room in the direction of her offices. Valern and Udina just stared at each other, unable to understand why the Asari Councilor had just abandoned her responsibility to galactic defense. Shepard called to the stage, "This doesn't change anything does it?"

Udina glanced at Valern before shaking his head and telling him in his thick accent, "No Shepard it doesn't. But what it does mean is that Anderson better get his Turian friends to contribute. This is a burden the Alliance and Union shouldn't have to shoulder alone."

Shepard nodded, he was certain Anderson would come through and the Turians would assist in the war effort. He was left wondering though, why would the Asari refuse to help? He couldn't fathom why they would risk their position as the head of galactic politics to refuse to help. Tevos hadn't left a lot of room for negotiation, Shepard suspected that she or the Asari were hiding something. He would have to find out what.

Udina's voice pulled him back to reality, "Shepard, we will detain our Batarian friend and work with him to locate and communicate with the remaining Batarian forces."

Valern nodded, "They will be a valuable source of information on Reaper forces and strategy. We should not move forward without them."

Shepard would be happy to get the terrorist off his ship. As much as Shepard felt bad for the fate the Batarians were enduring, he hadn't grown to love Balak one ounce more. He was still a terrorist who killed innocent people. "He's all yours Councilors. Also, please include the Normandy in your preparations for the attack. My people and I want in."

Udina grinned, "I'm sure Admiral Hackett will be glad to have you Shepard."

Shepard, Tali, and Garrus turned to head out of the main chamber when Balak spoke again. "There's one other thing. I know where Councilor Sparatus is, and you're not going to like the answer."

The entire room faced him once again.

 **Palaven - Councilor David Anderson**

They had laughed at him. Well, at first they had. When he walked up to the gate guards in front of the residence of the Primarch he had been laughed at. Anderson wasn't shocked, he had grown up in London and had someone walked up to the guards in front of Buckingham Palace claiming to be the King of Spain they'd have been laughed at too…well, they may have if the guards in London were permitted to speak. The principle was the same though. It had taken him almost a day and a half of badgering the guards before he got through them to see their captain. The Councilor had almost given up, abandoned his plan, and tried to go through diplomatic channels, but he'd gotten through.

All he'd had to do to prove who he was to the Guard Captain was pull up some photos on the extra-net and turn over some Alliance identification he had. Then he had been passed up _six_ different levels of authority before getting his chance to meet with the Turian Primarch. He'd thought bureaucracy and the chain of command in the Alliance were bad. From what he'd been through here, it was downright speedy.

Anderson stepped into the Primarch's office. It was a spartan room, a handful of pictures were hanging on the walls, old fashioned still photos, not the fancy live ones on vid screens. The ceiling was about 10 feet high and it was a light gray color like the walls. The floor was made up of a material native to Palaven that Anderson thought was most similar to cork. There was a steel and glass desk in front of wooden cabinets that covered the rear wall. Two steel chairs with padded seats sat in front of the Primarch's desk for visitors.

Anderson knew little of Fedorian. The Councilor believed him to be incredibly well respected through the Hierarchy. He hadn't heard one poor word about the man from another Turian. The Primarch had a military background, served as a General during the First Contact War and distinguished himself a decade earlier as a Major running anti-piracy operations. This all fell out of Anderson's head of the Hierarchy looked up at him, "Ah, Councilor. Welcome to Palaven, it's nice to meet you. I must admit that I was pleased on your appointment to the Council, I much prefer a military man to a career politician."

Anderson smiled, "We have Commander Shepard to thank for that one." He walked over to the Primarch's desk and put out his hand, which the Turian promptly took, "It's a pleasure, Primarch sir."

Fedora sat back down at his desk and looked at Anderson with shrewd anticipation, "It's a pleasure for me, you have a record as distinguished as any Human in the galaxy. But let us get to business, we are both incredibly busy and you didn't come here for a pleasure trip."

"Quite right sir, I have a proposal to make."

"Alright Councilor, let's hear it."

"Sir, I was hoping for full military cooperation between our peoples. Shared R&D, regular joint exercises, a mutual defense treaty. In short, everything but a unification of our command structures."

Fedorian leaned back in his chair and gave Anderson a contemplative look. He sat there for nearly ten agonizing minutes, just thinking. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and looked down at his desk. Anderson swore an entire hour had gone by before Fedorian finally spoke. It was only a brief question. "Why?"

"Because Primarch, I believe the Reapers are coming. I believe it to be a certainty, and when they get here I don't want to be living with the guilt of having not done all I could. I know that billions will die and we'll probably fail. If we do this," Anderson looked Fedorian in the eyes, "then at least, I won't feel guilty about it."

The Primarch held Anderson's gave for the length of his little speech, searching it for some kind of deceit or insanity. "Do you even have the power to propose this?"

"Technically yes, as long as I propose it to whoever you name as Sparatus' temporary replacement."

Fedorian grimaced, "We just received word that he's being held by the Batarians. Who are in turn being controlled by a Reaper corpse they dug up decades ago. I'm not optimistic about our chances of finding him alive. I will miss him, he was a friend."

Anderson sighed, "We're going to be taking out the Batarians I take it?"

"Yes, as an effort to prevent the Reapers from gaining a beachhead with which to launch an attack."

The Councilor looked toward Fedorian and tried to be optimistic, "He's not dead yet Primarch, Sparatus is a tough S.O.B."

"I'm not certain what that means, nor do I want to know. But you're right, he likely isn't dead yet." Fedorian stood, "Councilor Anderson, you can return to the Citadel and tell your people that the assault on the Hegemony will be supported by the full military might of the Turian Hierarchy. Regardless of their being manipulated by the Reapers, they took our Councilor, and I cannot let that go unpunished. Additionally, I will take your plan before the other Primarchs for a vote. I cannot guarantee it will pass, but it will have my full support. I see what's coming Anderson."

The Captain stood and once again shook the Turian's talons, "That's all I can ask for sir. We can win this war, we just need to stand together to do it."

Fedorian faced him one last time before stepping out of the room, "I've read the reports the Commander gave the Council. I don't think it will be quite that simple."

Anderson was escorted out of the Primarch's residence by a Colonel. He was put in a luxurious diplomatic shuttle and taken into space to return to the Citadel. His return voyage would be quite different than his departing one. He'd be on a dreadnaught mustering into service in the Citadel defense fleet, the _Indomitable_.

The Primarch's words hounded him.

How could they stop the Reapers when the most powerful military leader in the galaxy didn't think they could? And what was this about having to invade the Hegemony? He was as confident as any soldier, but he was stuck in the role of playing politician, and knowing more about what was going on certainly didn't help his feeling of unease. The more he knew the more helpless he felt.

At least his trip to Palaven had been a success. Breaking through the diplomatic BS had improved his mood and solved some of the issues that had appeared since Sparatus' kidnapping. There was still much to do however, there was no rest for the weary and he didn't know what to do next. He needed to speak with Shepard.


	18. Plans

Hey everyone, it's been almost a week, which makes this the longest in between my uploads yet, in the scheme of most stories is a really quick upload, but it's bad for me. I'm genuinely sorry about it, but I had a rough week with school and romantically. Which in turn affected my ability to write the Tali portion of the chapter. This is a long one, second longest yet, and it introduces a character we all know and love but is new to my story, so I hope you enjoy meeting him. Again, _please me your reviews and tell me what you like and didn't like_. Let us be off.

 **SR2 Normandy in the Serpent Nebula - Tali**

Tali had finally, after more than a week of failed attempts, managed to repair the damage done to the Normandy's engines during the Collector attack back in the Arlakh system. The issue had been painfully simple, backfeed from the thrusters due to some minor damage, likely from asteroid debris. It hadn't been anything a short spacewalk couldn't repair, but it was literally the last thing on her checklist of potential causes and she had refused to forget about it. She wasn't going to leave Shepard or her friends in a ship that wasn't at it's most capable. The result of her commitment was a lot of missed sleep and time spent away from Shepard, which was the last thing in the universe she wanted before she left to return to the Migrant Fleet.

Now here she was finishing up the work to prepare for her impending departure from the SR2 and her friends on it. Worst of all was knowing that as she sat there working the clock was ticking on the time she had left to spend with Shepard. So far she had discussed the protocols and procedures she had personally taken care of with Gabby and Ken, as they would be taking them over until the new Chief Engineer arrived from Alliance space. That was on top of the thousands of pages of optimization suggestions and maintenance guidelines she had left for the new Chief. She could only hope he/she arrived before Shepard left with the fleet to hit the Batarians. Hope and prepare her successor as best she could for the job she was leaving.

Shepard had told her that she wouldn't be on the Normandy when the allied fleet hit the Batarians. Tali knew why, he couldn't risk her dying in the attack. It was both emotional and political for him. He told her he couldn't afford to lose her, and that even if he were to die in this war he wanted her to carry on with her life and find a way to be happy. He also told her as a soldier and strategist he didn't want to risk the Quarians attacking the Geth should her vote on the Admiralty Board go to a pro-war candidate.

She understood why he asked her to go or, at least, tried to. She couldn't bare the thought of him marching his way into a war zone. Especially given his proclivity for last stands and foolish offensives, and Tali knew he must have felt the same way every time she jumped out of cover to release a drone or fire her shotgun. But knowing those things didn't alleviate the heartache she was already reeling from. She hadn't even left the Normandy and she already felt herself missing him with all of her being.

She had lost him once and she remembered the abject feeling of helplessness that she felt as she watched him gasping for air outside her escape pod. She remembered returning to the fleet and being cheered as she handed the Geth data Shepard had saved for her to her father, and she remembered how what should have been a moment of triumph was lost when she broke into tears at the thought of what that information had cost her. Tali was dead to the world for months, unable to get past the fact that she had never told Shepard how she really felt about him.

It was that belief that she had somehow failed in her duties to him by not telling him how she felt during their mission to stop Saren that drove her to him before they went through the Omega 4 relay. Now, with the joy their being together brought her, she knew she had been right to finally go to him. Their time together over the last week and a half had been amazing. Any time he hadn't spent solving the galaxies' problems and she hadn't spending trying to fix the Normandy, they spent together. She shivered. The stuffy nose, the fever, the constant pounding headache, it was all worth it. They were nothing compared to how she felt when she was around him. But now the dream she'd been living in was coming crashing down around her.

The First Joint Strike Fleet, or whatever they'd chosen to call it, Tali didn't particularly care, was finally coming together. The Systems Alliance had dispatched its Second and Fifth fleets under the command of Admiral Steven Hackett, the Salarian Union's First Fleet had arrived and the Second was expected to arrive the following day, and five fully armed fleets of Turian steel had appeared the previous day. That wasn't to mention the millions of ground troops the three Council races had provided, or the elite forces the Elcor and Hanar had supplied. Whether the two minor races had provided forces out of commitment to the cause or a desire to win political points she wasn't sure, but she smiled at the thought of Shepard being backed up by Elcor armed to the teeth. The only other thing that made Tali even a little happy about her impending departure from the Normandy was how happy her beloved was about the response.

Shepard had been jubilant for the last few days. Tali was sure that a large, albeit concealed from others, portion of his joy was due to their relationship, but some of it was undoubtedly from the change in their fortunes. Not only had he finally convinced the galaxy that he wasn't a crackpot preaching the end of life as the galaxy knew it, but he'd actually managed to convince the majority of the galactic community to commit to preparing for the Reapers. He was far from happy there had to be one, Tali knew him well enough to be certain of that, but he had set that aside for the time being to enjoy the victory. She knew he had to, and he needed to find some joy in his work.

Today however, his cheery outlook had disappeared. Garrus had gone up to meet with Shepard that morning and emerged from the elevator hours later with a grim look on his face. As soon as she saw that she hurried up to see John, but it was too late. The damage had been done, and no matter what she said or did to comfort him, his mindset wouldn't change. He was too stubborn and he had returned to his practice of carrying the weight of the entire galaxy on his shoulders.

He told her that governments of billions were, on his word and recommendation, committing millions of their sons and daughters to his cause and that if they were lucky, maybe only a few hundred thousand or so wouldn't return. He told her that that was _his responsibility_. Tali thought he was being ridiculous. She argued and argued that the impending war was in no way his responsibility, it was the Reapers'. His actions were only to protect the greater good. He wouldn't have it though. He set his jaw and looked at her with the determined stare Tali had fallen in love with years before. He told her that it was his duty and task, he couldn't abandon it, even at the cost of his life. He'd turned and stared at his display of ships hanging above them in his cabin, looking each of them over one after another.

She had just sat there next to him on the couch, pressed up against him and trying to shoulder some of the burden that he had once again placed upon himself. She loved him like no one else she had ever met. She didn't want to leave the ship, and she certainly didn't want to leave him. Tali wasn't sure how she would gather up the strength to part with him even for an instant, but she knew she would have to. She had a burden of her own to carry.

 **SSV Orizaba (Flagship of the Fifth Fleet) - Admiral Steven Hackett**

"Admiral, would you be prepared to lead the invasion fleet and function as the overall force commander?"

Hackett didn't know quite how to react. He had assumed that with the Hierarchy's contributing more than half of the fleet they would request to lead the attack on Khar'Shan, and he'd been prepared to grant that request. This situation was surprising, but he suppressed any doubt he had and responded in his gravelly tone, "Of course General Victus, if the Hierarchy is comfortable with such a chain of command I will gladly take command. What orders have you been placed under for the engagement?"

The Turian's mandibles turned up slightly, "I have been given a large degree of…flexibility in how I am to handle this mission. The Primarch has said he sees the necessity for unpredictable strategy as we move to face an unprecedented enemy."

Hackett had never met Primarch Fedorian, and it had been a long time since he last saw Victus. Not that they'd even been on the same side at the time. Shepard's proving of the Reaper threat, combined with the relationship that Councilor Anderson had cultivated with the Turians, had led to a complete shift in Human and Turian policy toward each other. They went from military rivals to the closest allies in the galaxy over a handful of weeks. Hackett wasn't terribly surprised, he had long figured that if their two species could get past their rough introduction Humans would be more natural allies for the Turians than the peace-loving Asari or shadowy Salarians, but the speed of the shift still shocked him. Six months ago he'd been running drills against a simulated Turian fleet while tomorrow he may be leading that Turian fleet into battle.

Victus interrupted his thoughts, "Admiral, you can call me Victus, forget about the title for now. It's a waste of both of our time"

"Of course, and the same goes for me. I was just thinking about how quickly things changed between our people."

Victus let a small smile play upon his face, "I promise not to run a knife across your face again."

"I would appreciate that Victus, tremendously." Hackett leaned over from the chair he was sitting in and softly placed his coffee on the console in front of him. The view from the bridge was stunning. The Orizaba was resting in the Serpent Nebula just a few dozen miles from the Citadel and the sight of the massive space station resting amidst the backdrop of the purple and black nebula was gorgeous. This is what Hackett had dreamed of when he enlisted in the Alliance all those years ago.

He pondered how that younger version of himself would react to Humanity's enemy. Ancient Godlike sentient warships made from the genetic memory of long-dead races. It was enough o make him shudder. He supposed that that version of himself may have been more prepared to learn of Reapers than he was when he learned of the Reapers a couple years prior. Back then there had been no aliens, no peaceful galactic status quo to grow used to. That was on top of the burden he now carried as an officer. Today he was the head of a fleet of thousands of warships, whereas when he had enlisted he had only himself to worry about. Hackett extricated himself from his distracted pondering, he had more pressing issues to consider.

The location for fleet rendezvous had been an easy choice for the politicians, the Citadel was neutral ground and fairly central amidst the various species' territories. As such, the fleet had come together quickly. He could fairly assume that indoctrinated Batarians wouldn't be ready for his assault, hell, they may not even know it was coming. but he couldn't make that assumption, it was too risky to be pulled into a trap if he did.

The good news for him was that the Alliance had a trick up its sleeve: the carriers. Carriers were a new instrument of war in the galaxy and of entirely Human invention. Humanity's quick jump from naval battles on its homeworld's surface and being a major power in space had led to the concept of the class of ship when no other species had even considered using what they considered an antiquated design for a ship. Where they had become enamored with mass effect technology and the big guns it brought forth on dreadnaughts, Humans had considered the startling parallels to the Second World War when the Japanese made the fatal error of assuming the war in the Pacific would be determined by who had the largest guns.

Hackett leaned forward and activated his console to review the plans he'd started to draw up for the battle. Victus watched over his shoulder as he slowly scrolled through the various text and diagrams he and his team had created. The key to his scheme would be the two Alliance carriers he had managed to get a hold of for the operation. The other Council races had nothing like them, or, at least, they hadn't until Anderson had shared the Alliance's plans with the Turian Hierarchy. Better yet, no Alliance carriers had been forced into action to that point. They hadn't been used in the First Contact War, hadn't been used in the various skirmishes with the Hegemony, and hadn't been used in the Battle of the Citadel almost three years prior. As such the Batarians, and in all likelihood the Reapers, wouldn't expect what he was going to hit them with. The enemy would be expecting a slugfest with the Allied fleet's dreadnoughts.

Hackett knew that was exactly what they wanted. Neither he nor the Alliance had been blind to how powerful Sovereign had been. The Reaper had Thanix cannons strong enough to down a dreadnaught and shields with enough power to withstand the Turians' and Humans' main guns in the Battle of the Citadel. Even the Destiney Ascension, the largest dreadnaught (at the time) in the Citadel species' arsenals hadn't stood a chance. His goal was to convince the Reapers that that was the fight he would be giving them. A traditional, good old slugfest with the largest ships and guns he had.

It would be a trick. His plan was to line up his 9 fleets worth of dreadnoughts in a circle, leave a hole just large enough to be taken advantage of by the enemy, but not so large as to appear intentional. It would be a gap the enemy Reapers would slide into thinking to wreak havoc on his fleet from inside its formation.

In reality, it would be a kill zone. The Carriers would sit far behind the dreadnaughts, light minutes beyond the Reaper's effective range, but just close enough to unleash wave after wave of fighters that would bombard the Reapers and converted Batarian ships with disruptor torpedoes and the new Javelin missile system. He would lose ships and men, but the Reapers would be devastated and unable to escape.

His risk was that during the time it had taken from the Batarian fleet's original effort to retake their homeworld to now, more Reaper forces had entered the system. If enough had entered to eliminate his numerical advantage, his fleet would be torn apart from the inside out. There just wouldn't be enough fighters to hit the enemy before they annihilated his cruisers and dreadnoughts. He had made the decision to ignore the possibility, making the calculation that if the bulk of Reapers had already arrived Humanity and her allies would be doomed anyway. If thousands of ships as capable as the one that attacked the Citadel were in orbit over Khar'Shan they would lose the battle no matter how he created his plans. The Citadel races' militaries possessed fewer than one hundred capital ships. They needed time and revolutionary invention to stop the Reapers. His job was to buy the galaxy that time.

Victus began to speak, startling Hackett who had forgotten the Turian general was standing behind him, "What if they outnumber us?"

The Human turned his chair and faced Victus with a grim look on his face, "Then we die. If they outnumber us we retreat as quickly as we can, but you know as well as I that if the bulk of the Reaper fleet is in Hegemony space, the result of this battle doesn't matter. Our people's will be extinct and turned into Reaper sludge before we can even muster a defense."

The Turian's mandibles turned upwards and he stepped back and away from Hackett and the console displaying the battle plan, "Your people will be turned into sludge, mine apparently aren't special enough to have earned that privilege."

Hackett shook his head. The damn Turian had that same awful sense of humor in the face of danger that Shepard and Anderson had. Why hadn't he gotten the same gene?


	19. Hellos and Goodbyes

Sorry for the week long wait, it sucks, I know. I've got finals this week so it'll probably be another week before I get a chapter up. Anyhow, next chapter after this is a Zaeed POV (to thank you guys for 32 favs/follows, next POV after that will probably be Samara at 46). I'm trying to keep the commentary to a minimum, so let us be off!

 **SR2 Normandy - Shepard**

Their time together was at an end. At least for now. Shepard was sitting at the desk in his cabin, alone but for his hamster and the new fish that filled the tank across the room from him. He'd always wondered what drove their seemingly random movements. They appeared to swim without purpose, just weaving around each other and their artificial environment, only moving with direction when they went to pursue food falling into their little world. Was that what he and his friends looked like to the Reapers? Small and seemingly purposeless creatures that only moved coherently when faced with catastrophe or extinction?

Shepard leaned back in his chair. Even if this battle went without a hitch it was only a matter of time before the massive and nearly unassailable Reaper fleet arrived. What else could he be doing before that happened? He set down the coffee he'd been sipping at on the coaster next to his computer's holographic keyboard and fired off a message to Liara letting her know he wanted to talk. The moment he got the confirmation indicating she had a moment he stood up, stretched, and headed down to the comms room on the second deck. The table was already lowering into the floor when he entered. Liara's image appeared in front of him and he moved to face her.

"Shepard, we haven't spoken since you requested information on Vido Santiago of the Blue Suns. Given that my sources in their organization indicate a rather rapid and hostile takeover by your associate Zaeed Massani I take it your mission was a success?"

"It was a complete success, and we also apprehended Balak there. He was the Batarian terrorist that attempted to hit Terra Nova with an asteroid back when we were battling Saren. He'd been meeting Vido and trying to talk him into supporting a military campaign." Shepard paused, "but you probably knew all that."

Liara let out a small but visible chuckle, "Yes Shepard, I am fully briefed on Batarian issue and the fleet you have assembled to handle it. I am not surprised by the reports. I have been seeing decreasing intelligence from the Hegemony for months and my sources were going dark one by one."

"Can you forward any data you have to Hackett and the fleet?"

Liara frowned at him, expressing some level of disapproval for not being trusted to have already done so, "I already have, it was leaked to the Salarians and I verified that the STG forwarded it to Hierarchy and Alliance officials. It's quite a force you've built for this mission Shepard. It's the largest combined fleet since the end of the Krogan rebellions."

Shepard began to page back and forth in the Comms room, "I can only hope it'll be enough." He stopped moving and focused on Liara, "I'm afraid this isn't a pleasure call though. The Asari refused to support this effort, and I suspect that's due to more than a pacifistic nature."

"I found their lack of assistance suspicious as well, but none of my trustworthy contacts have uncovered anything, and I don't want to inquire with agents I don't trust completely. If the Asari are hiding something the last thing I want to do is spook them into covering it up."

Liara paused, as if deciding whether to reveal more information. Shepard waited patiently and eventually she continued, "I think the Republics are concealing something else as well. I never noticed it before I became the Shadow Broker, but I've been doing some digging into the economic history of the Asari relative to other races and have found major inconsistencies. The old Broker found the same thing and was actively investigating it. Any time the Asari begin to lose their economic or scientific edge there is a discernible and rapid increase in technological development. The unexplainable part is that it isn't tied to investment, contrary to what one would expect. The turnaround time between the loss in advantage and rapid economic growth is measured in mere months."

Shepard took a step back and rubbed the stubble on his chin, "I'm no expert on macroeconomic trends Liara, what does it mean?"

"I can't be certain, but I can hazard a guess. The most plausible explanation is that somewhere the Asari government has a cache of Prothean technology. The only other times research or growth have jumped like this for other races is when they discover new Prothean tech, it would be logical if the same is true for the Asari."

What this meant slowly dawned on Shepard, "Liara, you're saying the Asari might be hiding Prothean technology and slowly releasing it to preserve their geopolitical position? That would be insane! We need every advantage we can get against the Reapers and that would imply that they aren't even trying to help!"

"I would caution you Shepard, this is just a theory, albeit a reasonable one. I'm going to pursue this and try to figure out why Tevos and the matriarchs refused to back your play against the Batarians. I will let you know if I find something." Liara moved to end the call, but seemed to decide against it and added, "I have been contacted by Admiral Hackett. Not me as the Shadow Broker, but as Dr. Liara T'Soni. He wants me to travel to the Mars archives and comb through them for anything the Alliance may have missed."

It took Shepard a moment to respond as he was still trying to process the news that the Asari might be actively sabotaging the anti-Reaper effort, "Why ask you?"

"For the same reason I would have been useful three years ago to Saren and was useful to our mission. I've spent sixty years studying Prothean artifacts, languages, and history. There's a reasonable chance I can find something even your experts could not. Which is why I feel that I need to go, if I find something that the Protheans were hiding from the Reapers it could level the playing field."

"Liara, do you feel confident leaving your network in the hands of someone else?"

"Feron has recovered enough that both he and I feel he can handle the job. If he needs help I should be reachable as well. That said, I would appreciate some level of additional assistance if there's someone you trust."

Shepard was happy that the Drell they had managed to rescue was doing better, two years of near-constant torture was beyond his ability to imagine. He had no idea how Feron had managed to get through it: "If I can think of someone to help Feron out I'll let you know. Good luck on Mars Liara."

"Thank you Shepard, and be safe. The people of this galaxy need you now more than ever." Liara ended the video feed and Shepard's view of the Broker's inner sanctum cut out. He moved to leave the room, getting so far as to open the door when the feed came back on and he heard the raspy voice of the Illusive Man.

"Shepard, it's been too long."

The Commander turned on his feet and gave the man with piercing blue cybernetic eyes a long look. He made sure his own steely gaze was filled with anger, "EDI, how the hell did he hack our systems?"

The AI replied instantly, "Commander, I've detected no outside intrusion into our systems. It is worth mentioning that the QE channel to Cerberus was never actually destroyed, only the comm station. Once it was repaired it would be simple for the Illusive Man to place a call when you entered the room."

A grin slowly grew on the head of Cerberus' face, "Satisfied I'm not the boogeyman yet Shepard?" He took a long draw on his cigarette.

Shepard returned to the center of the room so that he had a more direct view of the screen. This interface wasn't nearly as slick as the old holoprojector, but it more than met his needs. "Honestly, no."

"I understand why you wanted to part ways with Cerberus after the Collector Base, and I understand why you returned to the Council and the Alliance, but you know as well as I do that my resources can be of use to you. You need me if you want to stop the Reapers."

"I have the most powerful militaries in the galaxy on my team now. I have the governments of every major race on my side. Explain to me why I shouldn't tell you to go to hell."

The Illusive Man just grinned at Shepard's claim, acting as if the Commander was but a child in need of a lesson. He leaned forward toward the camera and Shepard could have sworn he smelled the smoke on the man's breath, "You need me because I can tell you why the Asari refused to support the invasion of Batarian territory. You need Cerberus because we have technology more advanced than any of the governments you claim are supporting you. And you _will_ accept my help because if you don't you'll be sacrificing billions of lives to your own ego and sense of self-righteous morality."

Shepard didn't want to accept that the man was right. He didn't want to accept that the leader of the organization responsible for the experiments on Pragia, the mutilation of David Archer, the murder of Alliance Marines on Akuze, or the sending of scientists to their death on that dead Reaper could be right. But the Illusive Man probably was. Shepard needed the entire galaxy at his back, and he knew Cerberus posed a greater risk if he ignored them instead of playing nice.

Cerberus had misled him, tricked him, and outright lied to him, but while he had worked with them they never targeted him for death. Even after he shut down Cerberus projects, they had been nothing but pragmatic about them. To some extent, he could relate to that realism. He sighed and nodded to the emotionless face on the screens before him, "Fine, I'll accept your help, but only under conditions."

The Illusive Man leaned back in his chair and took a sip of the whiskey he was holding, "I can understand that, continue."

"I don't take orders from you. I refuse to be your errand boy, and I work for the Alliance again. You provide me with information and occasionally resources, and I'll save the damn galaxy."

"Anything else you'd like of Cerberus Commander? Perhaps a sippy cup and some grape juice? Or how about a warm glass of milk?"

"One other thing. If I catch a whiff of you pulling something like you did on Aratoht or Pragia I'm done. Understood?"

"Yes Commander, I believe you've made your point, and I want it understood that Cerberus is my organization. I'm not running a charity. If you want help I want something in return." The man grinned and the screen went dark.

Shepard cursed, letting the Illusive Man get the last word was a mental defeat. It was a small thing, but it irritated him nevertheless. He spun around and headed into the hallway, this time without interruption. He passed through the Armory, giving Jacob a wave as he passed by. He stepped into the CIC realizing he'd been going through the armory more than usual lately. Shepard supposed it was tied to Mordin being gone, going through the Lab made the Salarian's absence all too apparent. Shepard turned right and waited for the elevator, when the door opened he stepped in and hit the button for the third deck.

A couple of minutes later he walked into the XO's quarters and stopped in front of Miranda's desk. She looked up at him curiously, "Is there something I can help you with Shepard?"

"The Illusive man called, he wants us to work with him again."

Miranda grimaced and shook her head, "I had thought I was finally free of the man, but I should have known better. Do I want to even know what his conditions are?"

"He wasn't terribly specific, just saying he wanted help in return. I don't want to deal with him unless I know what he wants up front."

Miranda stood up and, moving from her desk, stood in front of the window, staring out into space, "I don't want to either Shepard, but his resources would be incredibly valuable. Worse still, Cerberus is too strong to make an enemy of."

"How powerful are they really Miranda? I've only dealt with isolated cells and experiments, not once have I encountered forces too large for a small strike team to deal with. On top of that," Shepard waved his hand across the room, "this is the only warship I've ever seen Cerberus build."

Miranda turned and stared into Shepard's eyes, "You haven't seen those ships because the Illusive Man never wanted you to. This is the most advanced ship they built while I was there, but I know Cerberus has a small fleet of its own, and that's just what I was allowed to see. They have the best operational security in the galaxy, so I have little doubt there was more than I was privy to. Worse still, there are plenty of Cerberus loyalists in the Alliance's ranks. Not enough to win a civil war, but enough to slow your military buildup to a standstill via sabotage. We either have to play along with the Illusive Man or kill him, but if we try and fail in an assassination attempt, it would cost us everything."

Shepard crossed the room and leaned against the window, "Then we play his game for now, and wait until the right time to take him out." His chin fell to his chest, "If I have to sacrifice my morality or my sense of what is right for this war I will…but that doesn't make a deal with the devil any easier."

"If it makes you feel better I feel the same way, and I gave this man years of my life."

"There's something I need you to do Miranda, and it means you won't be with us for the invasion."

A look of concern crossed the former Cerberus' operatives face, "You don't trust me do you?"

"Just the opposite, I trust you completely. Do you remember our business with the Shadow Broker?" Miranda nodded in response to his question. "The Broker needs to take care of some research of crucial importance to the war effort, I want you to help keep the Broker's network running in _his_ ," Shepard put emphasis on the pronoun, "absence."

Miranda's face lit up and her Australian accent became just a bit thicker with her glee, "Of course Commander if that's where you think my talents are best used."

Shepard stood and took a few steps to the door before glancing back to his XO, "I do, pack your bags and get yourself ready to head out tomorrow. I'll contact the Broker and make sure he's okay with it. While you're gone Garrus will take your place as XO, and the cabin for that matter." As he walked out the door he heard Miranda moving about the room collecting her personal items and files with near perfect efficiency. He would miss her.

—

Shepard left the elevator with a pounding headache. He'd been awake for far too many hours coordinating battle plans with Hackett and getting his depleted team ready for the following day. The fleet would begin its advance on Batarian territory and Tali and Miranda would be leaving the ship. He waved his door open and crossed the threshold. His headache was forgotten and his mood immediately picked up when he spotted Tali messing with his chessboard. "Hey there, what are you looking at?"

Tali's face snapped up toward him, "Trying to figure out this stupid game. I'm tired of losing to you!"

The Commander crossed the floor rapidly and pulled her into his arms in a tight embrace. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you here by my side."

Tali yelped, "Keelah Shepard, you're squeezing me to death!"

He laughed and loosened his grip, "I don't want to let you go is all."

"It was your idea that I go tomorrow." He was concerned, her voice was full of sadness and gave off an air of loss when it reached his ears. Shepard didn't want her to think he wanted her gone, and he'd done everything he could the last few days to convince her of that.

He picked her up and carried her over to the bed before tossing her down on top of it. "I would do anything in the heavens or on Earth to keep you by my side, but there's nothing I _can do_ about this." He slid onto the bed next her and she curled up against him. He could feel the cool smooth texture of her gloves as her hand ran up and down the skin of his left arm.

"I know Shepard, and I don't blame you for anything but mild overprotectiveness." She paused and Shepard glanced over to make sure she wasn't upset. He felt her squeeze his arm, as if to reassure him that she was fine. "I blame the Reapers for interfering with our lives. I blame Raan for taking me away from the Normandy to take on a job I'm woefully unprepared for. Most of all I blame destiny, because even though it gave me you, ever since it's seemed determined to keep us away from each other."

Shepard took Tali into his arms and held onto her, "No matter how much we're conspired against, no matter what tries to keep me from you, I _will_ find a way to be with you. Okay?" He could feel her nod against his chest.

"John, promise me just one thing."

"I would promise the universe to you if I could."

Tali leaned away for a moment and looked him in the eye, "Promise me you'll be careful. Promise me you'll come back to me."

"I will do everything in my power to come back to you as soon as I can, and I'll be as careful as I've ever been." He ran his hand across her faceplate, and teased her, "For the first time ever I'll have the galaxy at my back, so I should be a great deal safer too."

She nodded and reached up to her head. It took her a moment to get the latch hidden beneath her headscarf to open, but when she did Shepard heard the hiss of hair and carefully removed her faceplate from her helmet. He set it on the nightstand behind him and looked deeply into her pale gray eyes. She looked at him intently, "Since this is our last night together for a while I took some immuno-boosters and antibiotics so…"

He didn't even give her a chance, but just pulled her closer to him.


	20. Zaeed

The first thing I want to say to anyone reading this is to thank them for hanging with me for the last month of no updates. I owe you all an explanation. I had some relationship issues and then finals. I did some writing, roughly half this chapter, over spring break but even that made my family unhappy. I'm away so much for school that they felt I was ignoring them on our trip, so I had to put off writing any more. I got back to school a couple weeks ago and started writing again. I'm only getting the chapter out now because I was delayed by the start of classes and getting acclimated. This was all compounded with my finding Zaeed incredibly difficult to write for. In the games he's not one-dimensional…but he's close. That doesn't make him hard to empathize or uninteresting, but it makes him tough to write for. The result was a nearly 5000 word monster of a backstory.

I can't promise I'll be able to put out 40,000+ words a month again, in part because I'm trying to improve quality and in part because I have a lot of other obligations. My target right now is a chapter a week, which is a good pace for most authors on the site. I want to thank you all for your comments as well, they really motivated me to keep going. As before, if you have comments on the story, recommendations, criticisms, or praise, I love to hear it all. Thanks for reading everyone. Let us be off.

 **Zaeed Massani**

 _Modern Day_

He raised the cigar up to his mouth and pulled the dense flavorful smoke into his mouth in a long drag. Closing his eyes he allowed himself to enjoy the sensation for a few moments before putting the Cuban out on the tray in front of him and exhaling. As the last of the smoke escaped from his lips he stood and paced the perimeter of the room, his new office. He had chosen a different leadership strategy than Vido, his men came to him with reports in the Suns' new headquarters on Omega, he made public appearances, and put an end to the Sun's relationships with slavers. No hiding behind tech to avoid real people.

He hadn't been able to keep Vido from turning the Suns into a machine for wealth at any cost 30 years ago, but he could fix his failure now. The publicity stuff was to make his task easier. If he could get governments to ease up on the Suns' operations it would make the transition to being a legitimate private military firm far more palatable for existing mercs in the group. Plus, Zaeed had no need nor interest in playing hide and seek across the galaxy. Vido had needed to. The former Blue Suns leader had played that game with Zaeed for the better part of two decades, but then again, not much put the fear of God into someone than being pursued constantly by the galaxy's most dangerous mercenary on a mission of revenge. So Zaeed, without enemies that he felt himself unable to handle, had centralized the Blue Suns' administrative structure in a single location on Omega.

It was one of the many changes he had already put in place with the Suns. He'd started by purging the group of Vido loyalists and thugs who enjoyed the killing, then moved on to remaking their operational structure, and finally to moving their various regional hidey holes into a single headquarters. It had taken weeks, and there was still months of work to do, but when he was done the Suns would be a group of battle hardened warriors capable of black ops or ground warfare in any part of the galaxy. That was the dream for the Suns that Zaeed had always committed himself to, and the reason Vido had killed his friends and tried to kill him. Zaeed leaned against a wall and fell into his memories.

 _30 Years Ago_

Zaeed stepped out of his shuttle into the early light of an already swelteringly hot day in Cairo. He had returned to Earth as part of a recruiting drive. The Blue Suns, the mercenary group he had cofounded with Vido Santiago, had expanded their efforts into the untamed Terminus systems and they were in need of cannon fodder to claim new territory with. Vido figured that to expand their efforts the Suns would need bases they could operate out of with impunity, and to build and operate those bases they would need to push the current occupants out.

It was Zaeed's turn to find the men they could pay pennies to kill and die on some foreign world, and he cursed that his trip had to be to this hell hole. The third World War had left much of the Middle East a radioactive wasteland, and despite Egypt being free from that fate it was still a poor nation. Its infrastructure and industrial base had been wiped out in bombings and the rich had fled at the first sign that conflict was brewing. All that was left of the once proud nation was its tourist industry, and the advent of space travel and alien civilizations had made human history seem dull to the inhabitants of Earth who had once paid thousands of dollars to see the pyramids built by their ancestors so long ago. In other words, Egypt was left a poor slum.

Massani spat into the dirt that coated the poorly maintained street outside the port. He didn't care about what this country had once been, he was just there to take advantage of the men born and raised in the violent world he now found himself surrounded by. He slowly walked down the avenue, taking in his surroundings. He was soon in the middle of a crowded marketplace. Colorful blankets and towels hung over the street on wires and booths lined the sidewalks. Merchants were shouting prices and heckling every passerby, doing their best to sell their wears and bring home enough money to feed and house their families.

Zaeed turned to face a nearby booth and examined what the merchant was pushing people to buy. He chuckled, the booth was filled with cheap gimmicks for tourists. There were a handful of purses and bags from a luxury brand, he picked one up and examined it, turning it end over end and examining the stitching on the inside of the bag. A fake, but a reasonably good one. Zaeed was about the ask the merchant for the price when he felt a small bump behind him. He turned, but it was too late. His wallet was gone. All he spotted was a kid, couldn't be more than sixteen, sprinting away in the other direction. He tossed the bag back toward the merchant and took off in chase after the kid muttering under his breath, "Goddamn, not even here five minutes."

The kid weaved between street vendors and their customers, using his slim build and short stature to his advantage. Zaeed did not have the luxury, where the kid slid between people, he ran into and through them. The two left a trail of angry merchants and pissed off shoppers in their wake, neither cared particularly much however.

The chase lasted for nearly five blocks before Zaeed caught the thief. The boy had tried to vault over a booth, but ran into the merchant on the other side and fell to the ground. Zaeed had him in his grip a moment later.

He shook him, "What the hell is wrong with you kid?"

With a look of terror in his eyes the boy tried to speak, but nothing came out. Zaeed pulled out his pistol and began waving the sun-warmed barrel in the air. "What's your name?"

The thief managed to stammer out a single word, "Je…Jess…Jessie"

"Jessie? That's a Goddamn girl's name. Eh, fuck it. Alright Jessie, are you on your own, or are you working for somebody?"

This time there was only a short pause before Jessie began speaking, "There's a group of us."

Zaeed smiled, exactly what he needed, "Jessie right?" He waited for the boy to nod, "Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to ask you a question, and you are going to answer with the whole story. If you have a handler, I want to know their name. If you have a best friend, I want to know his name. If you can shoot a gun, I want to know how well. I want to know every goddamn detail related to why you stole from me and why I shouldn't put a bullet in your head right now."

"We're a group of guys, most of them are a few years older than me. We steal from people and give a cut to the Chief in exchange for a place to stay and the right to work this street. I can shoot, but I've never been trained. And…I was named after an old TV show."

"I don't give a damn who you were named after kid. What's this Chief's name?"

Jessie hesitated, but after a quick glance at Zaeed's gun and the hardened look on the mercenaries face decided it was safer just to talk. "His name is Mahmoud Nasser. We operate just a couple blocks from here."

Zaeed grinned and thanked whatever divine power was out there for that. He wasn't tired from his little chase, but the sun was already starting to take the life out of him. The pulsing lights of the Middle East was a bit more than a mercenary used to space travel was ready for. He pulled his Alliance model Avenger assault rifle from his back thankful that he had paid the bribe to customs to keep his weapons on him. "You're with me for now kid. I want to meet your friends tomorrow." He led Jessie away at the end of his gun.

—

The door caved the first time his foot impacted its paneling. It was a standard model for the region and the locking mechanism was no match for 300 pounds of muscle and armor. Zaeed rapidly stepped to the side and tossed a flashbang through the now open doorway. He counted to three. The tactical weapon exploded and he surged through the doorway and into the building. Keeping his eye down the sights of his Avenger he scanned the room. There were three men, all around the age of twenty-five, covering their eyes. They weren't shaking, but he wasn't sure if it was courage or blindness that kept them from it.

He pulled a stun gun from the holster at his waist and knocked the three of them out in rapid succession. A few minutes later Zaeed had cleared the building. There had been one other man to care of take of, but before Zaeed had even entered the room he was on his knees begging for his life to be spared while screaming his name, "Jacob", and that he had kids. Zaeed didn't believe for an instant that the scum he was looking at had a family. All 'Jacob' needed was an unnecessary kick in the gut and a pair of handcuffs before he was laying on the floor mewling. Zaeed dragged the sorry excuse for a man into the main foyer with the others and headed outside to pull the handcuffed and gagged Jessie into the lobby. He tied the hands of the men he had stunned and pulled the gag from Jessie's mouth.

The boy coughed a few times and moved his mouth side to side as he tried to regain feeling, "Happy now old man? This is all of us." Jessie glanced around briefly, "Except for Mahmoud at least."

It was the first time in his life that he'd been called old, and while he knew it was just a kid's childish insult, he still felt strange hearing it. "Actually you little punk, I got a job offer for the four of you. As mean and dumb as I may look, I didn't drag all you thieves into this room to teach you not to steal from idiot tourists." He looked at the man he had kicked, who was still lying on the floor whimpering. "Well, maybe you learned something Jacob. If you're gonna die you should at least be a man about it. You piss on your killer, not beg to them."

—

Just a few hours later the six of them: Zaeed, Jessie, and the four older thieves, were loading gear into their transport. The ship was in a fairly small and enclosed space. The dock he had chosen was in the shape of a circle with large tan colored walls surrounding them, it was quiet and private, just was he had been looking for when he arrived planetside. A single entrance into the dock opened out onto the streets in Cairo and the noisy and impoverished lives that populated it. The Blue Sun co-founder took the manual labor, carrying food and weapons onto the ship for their trip to the Terminus systems, as a time to think.

Convincing the thieves he had captured to join the Suns was almost too easy. After getting them all in a room in their house Zaeed had sat down and described what the former thieves could expect if they joined the Blue Suns. He made the life sound exciting and focused on the freedom they could expect. It was all part of the usual sales pitch. He claimed that the Sun's occupied lush garden worlds full of life, told them of natural wonders of greater size and beauty than anything a recruit's feeble mind could imagine, and told them of beautiful women, both alien and human that lived far away in the cosmos and were interested in nothing more than young mercenaries. In other words, he lied to them. The stupid little shits were more likely to get themselves killed in training or be stationed on some desert rock with no atmosphere than meet a single beautiful alien, but they didn't need to know that.

The one exception was Jessie, the kid had escaped his restraints at the start of the sales pitch. He didn't even move though, just sat and listened. Zaeed didn't even notice until the kid stood up to high-five him. He was something special, especially if he had taught himself to shoot as he claimed to have.

Zaeed picked up one of the last boxes of supplies and turned to walk up the ship's loading ramp when he heard a commotion behind him. Before he could set his load on the ground he heard gunshots. Within an instant Zaeed had dropped to a knee, pulled his rifle from the holster on his back and moved to aim it at the source of the gunfire. He was too late.

A bullet went clean through his right hand and forced him to drop the rifle and grunt in pain. His attacker came no closer, simply raising his own weapon toward Zaeed's head. Massani looked into the eyes of the man he was certain was about to kill him. There was nothing beyond a look of disdain and impatience. "Mercenary, you could have cost me a lot of money. These boys are productive thieves. They are also my property."

"Your property my ass. They wanted to work with the Suns, then they can work with the Suns. That said, you can take them back. It ain't worth my life."

The man was wearing a bandana over his mouth to prevent himself from breathing dust, but Zaeed could swear he saw a grin beneath that fabric when the man he now assumed was Mahmoud replied: "There is where you are right my friend, it was not worth your life. However, as I'm sure you figured out by now, I can't just let you walk away." Mahmoud chuckled, slower than any human should and just the right speed to fill Zaeed's usually stone cold heart with dread. "You must become an example, but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy this." A shot echoed through the small dock and Zaeed felt a piercing pain in his knee as a burst of high speed metal tore through flesh, bone, cartilage, and flesh again. This time he screamed and collapsed to the ground, left laying on his back in a growing pool of his own blood.

Jacob, the cowardly bastard from the house, came sprinting down the ship's loading ramp in tears. Even through his distorted vision and unfocused mind Zaeed could hear the conversation between Mahmoud and the younger thief. "Sir, Sir! Thank goodness you came to save us. I never wanted to leave you! They took me!"

"You are here and lack visible wounds. Did you not come willingly?"

"He threatened me!"

"Another example then." Another set of gunshots rang out around the circular walls and a cry was abruptly cut short. "4 left living." Mahmoud turned his attention back to Zaeed. "Ah, it appears I was hasty to assume your death. You my off world friend, are more resilient than you appear." The Egyptian slowly moved closer until he was able to place his rifle against Zaeed's undamaged knee. "I hope one more takes care of you. I would hate to put you through any more than that."

A single shot rang in his ears. He felt no pain this time and for a moment, Zaeed wondered if he was somehow so hurt that he could no longer feel pain. He felt something tug at his arms, angels? No, must be demons of some kind. Eh, he would let it happen. It wasn't worth the brain power required to figure out what was taking him where. With that thought he allowed himself to slip into darkness.

Hours later he awoke in his bed on the ship. Jessie had pulled him in, dressed his wounds, and called a doctor. His knee was set for now but would need surgery later. The kid had shot Mahmoud, saved his life. As the ship left Earth to head back to a meet up with Vido he knew one thing. He was going to train the kid personally, he owed him that much.

 _20 Years Ago_

He let out a burst from his Avenger and snarled as the Batarian downrange of his sights collapsed into a pile on the floor. He heard and felt shots from somewhere behind him impacting his kinetic barriers. Spinning on his feet he simultaneously dove behind a pile of crates and pulled a plasma grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin and counted to three before tossing it above his makeshift cover and toward whatever goddamn idiot had decided to try and surprise him. Four seconds later an explosion was quickly followed by screams. There was more than one idiot apparently. Zaeed silently cursed himself for letting the Batarians get behind his position. He was without a team, and he couldn't afford to take risks like he was used to. Losing his team wasn't his fault though, that was on whatever fucker in the Suns had set them up and sent them into an ambush.

One by one his teammates, his friends, brought together by dozens of missions and the blood of friends they'd lost, had fallen or been captured. By a fucking group of Batarian pirates no less. No pirates could beat his team in a fair fight. A Sun on the inside had been responsible, fed information to the bastards that had taken his team from him, set them up. When he got back to headquarters he and Vido would make sure that the traitor paid for their betrayal with his life, preferably in the most painful way possible. In the meantime Zaeed was left running around the base and picking off the Pirates a few at a time until he could rescue his surviving men. If there were any. If there weren't he was going to kill every last Batarian in the facility.

He stood up from behind his cover and looked at the damage his grenade had done. It looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. Blood painted the walls in unpredictable lines, all emanating from the location where his grenade had burst and burned his enemies with superheated matter. He spat on the floor, "Pieces of shit, you deserve every bit of it." He brought his rifle back to his shoulder and crossed the room. He silently moved into the hallway doing his best to remain quiet. He was slowed in his advance for a moment by a thick security door, but it opened without difficulty when he placed a keycard against the scanner that he had nabbed off the corpse of a pirate captain earlier in his search for his men.

Turning the corner after the door he spotted two targets, one in heavy armor and one in plain clothes. Within an instant Zaeed had analyzed the situation and determined a course of action. The two looked as if they were arguing, which, along with the security door probably explained why they hadn't heard the firefight he had just been in. He lined up his shot and an instant later slugs from his rifle blasted through the kinetic barriers and protection of the big one in the armor. Basic strategy, eliminate the primary danger first. The batarian in clothing faced him just in time to display a face full of shock that quickly morphed into pain when a slug shattered his knee. Zaeed approached with his rifle raised and pointed at the four eyes' head.

"Tell me right now why I shouldn't put a bullet in your tiny goddamn brain."

The Batarian, he wore the marking of a captain, stopped holding his knee and threw his hands up in front of his face, as if it would somehow protect him from the wrath of the of the Ares-like warrior before him. "I'll…I'll cooperate, I have the codes for the door, just don't kill me." He peeked out from beyond his hands with an expression of pure terror written upon his face. The Batarians having four eyes gave them an ability to express emotions in a level humans were not used to. Zaeed was impressed by how pathetic the creature who would likely claim to be a warrior and commander appeared.

"Open. The. Door."

Howling in pain the Batarian raised his arm and activated the door with his omni tool before collapsing back to the ground. He curled into the fetal position and kept his eyes from meeting Zaeed's. The moment Zaeed moved forward and stepped across the threshold he reached back across with his pistol and pulled the trigger. "That one's for Jessie."

Zaeed had found Jessie on Earth running with a gang of thieves and spotted the teenager's potential the moment he met him. Over the last decade, the boy had grown into a man. He was over six feet tall with a solid if not burly build. Jessie was the kind of guy that even the drunkest idiots at the bar didn't want to fuck with. He was an excellent marksman and a trustworthy teammate. Zaeed took him on every one of his jobs. While he exhibited little guilt for the violence he had been a part of as a Blue Sun, Jessie showed little interest in the money and flesh brought to him by their work. He was a quiet and cerebral man, no doubt the product of his lonely and parentless upbringing in the slums of one of Earth's poorest nations.

They'd been through dozens of missions together. Illium, Omega, Earth, and countless mercenary and pirate bases spread across the galaxy's various uninhabited worlds. Every mission ended the same, with Jessie looking up, and eventually down when he grew taller than his mentor, and asking, "So when are you going to retire old man?"

Each time Zaeed would chuckle and reply, "When I get too old to kick your ass boy."

Jessie had grown into a young man and Zaeed really did start to get old. He was close to 45 now, not that old in the whole scheme of things, but an older age than most mercenaries had the privilege of seeing. Jessie was almost certainly a reason why he'd made it so long. The boy had saved Zaeed's life nearly a dozen times in the last couple years alone and given him a reason to live and fight beyond a drink or the thrill of battle. He was like a son to the old mercenary.

Now he needed Zaeed's help.

He'd been seriously injured during the initial ambush, when Zaeed thought the small pirate base they were assaulting had been cleared, completing their contract, Batarians suddenly swarmed out of hidden compartments and doors. An entire Goddamn battalion of them. A rocket was fired at him and Jessie pushed Zaeed out of the way and got caught in the explosion…he was thrown across the room and left bleeding on the floor. As the Batarians had searched his teammate's bodies for loot and pulled Jessie out of the room Zaeed had managed, shaking with anger, to sneak away deeper into the base where he could hide and treat his wounds.

Hours later Zaeed emerged from his hiding place and began his quest for rescue and revenge. Mowing down Batarians with his guns and explosives he found stuffed in crates across the base he surely and steadily worked his way toward what he believed was the location of the medical wing. Where he hoped Jessie was.

Zaeed looked up from the dead Batarian Captain he has just shot and then down the hallway behind the recently opened door. He wasn't sure what he'd find there, wasn't sure how he would react if his friend of the last ten years was dead, but he knew one thing: there would be a lot of violence and killing if Jessie had died.

Moments later Zaeed had moved down the hall and pressed his ear to the door of the medical bay. He listened for a moment. Nothing. The door was too thick for any sound to pass. Taking a deep breath he pulled his rifle up to his shoulder and just stood there for a moment. He was going in dark, he didn't like it. Without information or a flashbang, it was doubtful that he would survive if there were any remotely skilled pirates inside. He hit the button and the door slid open.

The first thing Zaeed spotted was Jessie was laying on a metal table on the right side of the room. His chest was rising and falling at a steady pace, but he was attached to numerous IV lines and appeared to be on a respirator, as a tube ran from a machine down his throat. He was alive though, and that was what mattered.

And then Zaeed noticed something other than his friend, other than the man he had grown to treat as a son. Vido and a number of other high-ranking Blue Suns were there. And Vido had a pistol pointed at Jessie's head. Vido Santiago, the leader of the Blue Suns, spoke slowly: "Hello old friend, I will ask you kindly to put your gun down."

"Vido…what the hell is going on?"

"I'm going to ask you one more time, put your gun down or the punk kid here gets it." Zaeed lowered his Avenger, still unsure of exactly why his friend and partner in the Suns was there, or why Vido had his gun pointed at Jessie. "Good job Zaeed. Now put all your weapons on the floor and step toward my associates." He obliged Vido's request and put his guns down. He was almost immediately grabbed and handcuffed by the two Suns' Batarians Vido had brought with him. It was then everything clicked.

It wasn't someone in the Sun's that betrayed him and his team and set them up for an ambush. Vido himself, the undisputed chief of the Suns' operational command, had. Vido wanted to take Zaeed out of the picture so that he could direct their group however he wanted. He had done it for money.

Suddenly filled with rage Zaeed struggled against his captor's grip, but wasn't strong enough to succeed. He spat angry and barely comprehensible, "You killed my team. You killed them so you could trade slaves. You killed them, betrayed me, for money?!"

Vido allowed a small smirk through his normally emotionless guise, "Yes. For power and money. Pick one or the other, they're the same to me." He looked down at Jessie, struggling for life and attached to the machines. One by one Vido disconnected them and turned them off. Zaeed could only watch and struggle as the man he thought his best friend slowly killed the man he treated as a son. He nearly managed to free himself before another four Suns Vido brought ran over and held him back before lowering him to the ground. He'd been on missions with all of them. "Such a pity this one had to die. Good fighters are valuable, but this one isn't worth the risk of his desiring revenge." With that Vido pulled the ventilator from Jessie. Zaeed was left watching his friend slowly suffocate and go into cardiac arrest.

Jessie's dying body thrashed around on the table, twitched, and finally lay still. Zaeed went silent. Vido shook his head as he watched the boy die and then walked over to his former friend. "I couldn't have him coming after me for this." He pulled a rifle from his back, an old model Avenger.

"If you're going to shoot me you better put a bullet in my fucking brain because if I survive I _will_ kill you!" Zaeed paused and then spoke quietly, so that only he and Vido could hear, "And it won't be quick."

The last thing Zaeed heard was a gunshot.


	21. Before the Storm

**SR2 Normandy - Commander John Shepard**

Hackett personally briefed every flag officer on the plan, which due to his status as a Spectre, included the Commander. Shepard had confidence in Hackett's plan, in part because of its seemingly sound tactics and in part because he trusted the old Admiral more than anyone else in the Alliance, short one David Anderson. He stood on the elevated platform in the CIC and gazed down upon his crew. Everyone's spirits were high and the atmosphere was surprisingly loose. The arrival of the additional Turian support had been a shot in the arm for the fleet. A Turian carrier had arrived and supplemented the carriers wings of the Alliance ships.

It was the first Turian carrier ever built and an enormous source of pride for every Turian in the fleet. The Hierarchy, with copious amounts of Human assistance and engineering, had required just a few weeks to convert an incomplete dreadnaught into a semi-functioning carrier. The feat had become possible when the Turian Primarchs had ordered the entire Turian economy shifted to a war footing. Which, from what Shepard had heard was at least partially the result of Councilor Anderson's actions. Of course it helpedthat the Hierarchy had already been engaged in a new era of shipbuilding to counter the new and strongly felt presence of the Systems Alliance, but that rivalry had been set aside. Now that the might of the Hierarchy was working with the Alliance instead of against it, monumental feats of naval engineering and construction had become possible.

The Turian dreadnaught _Implacable_ had been sitting in dry-dock awaiting its heavy armor plating and the installation of its main gun when the order came down to retrofit it. A few weeks of literal non-stop construction later and the frame had been successfully modified to maintain a large hanger instead of a 1 km primary cannon. The _Implacable_ wasn't as stylish or elegant as the Human carriers, but it held an air wing of almost the same size. It had three-quarters of the Einstein's fighters and its crew had pushed her night and day to complete her trials in less than a tenth of the standard time. The only reason High Command had even considered sending out their newest toy so quickly were trial results identical to the most recently constructed Alliance carrier. Shepard knew it wasn't just that though. The Turians had a burning pride in their military, and they would hardly let the Humans do the heavy lifting in this invasion if they had the tools to participate effectively.

When the carrier arrived Shepard had asked Garrus to explain why the Turian portion of the fleet had reacted with so much excitement and glee. The Turian's response made him smile: "It means we're not sitting back and watching anymore Shepard. This ship is tangible evidence that we've gotten our shit together. The average sailor knew things weren't right in the galaxy, even if the Council didn't. Now they're seeing their people do something about it."

And the glee was not restricted to the Turians as there was no denying the upbeat atmosphere had spread to the Normandy. Despite the departure of Tali and Miranda, the crew seemed as hardworking and boisterous as they had ever been. EDI was running the ship more efficiently than the Human crew had been able and the former Cerberus crew working alongside her made the ship a hub for the fleet's communications and organization. Together, their united efforts and prior upgrades had turned the Normandy into a ship nothing short of a dreadnaught would want to take on. Shepard stepped off his platform and took the elevator to Engineering. He wasn't displeased with the new Chief Engineer Hackett had sent him either.

He stepped into the Engineering control room and Adams straightened his back in a salute. "Sir!"

"At ease Chief. We're old friends here. I'm curious how you got assigned to the Normandy. I assume it wasn't an accident."

Shepard watched as Adam's lips raised slightly at their edges. "No sir it wasn't. I was working on some projects with Alliance R&D back on Earth, but when Hackett learned you needed an engineer he pulled strings I didn't know existed. He wanted you to have someone familiar with a Tantalus core, it just so happens I was one of only a few in the Alliance."

"We're glad to have you Adams. How are your new partners down here working out? Ken and Gabby have been around the block with us."

"They've been great sir. They know the system as well as I ever did and they've been showing me around it. They may have been a little grumpy to lose Tali at first, but once they learned I worked on the SR1 they got a bit nicer." Adams paused and dropped his gaze to the floor before returning it to Shepard. "Sir, I have to say that it is really a privilege to be back, the SR2 is a work of beauty. A little short on safety for us Engineers, but a damn gorgeous piece of work. I'm no fan of Cerberus, but I can never say they doesn't know how to build a damn fine ship."

"If there's anything you need Adams just let me know, I'll get you whatever you need."

"Thank you Commander. It's nice being back."

Shepard exited Engineering and leaned back against the wall at the top of the stairs. He was glad Hackett found a way to send him Adams, but coming down here and not seeing Tali…it felt wrong somehow. Her shadow still loomed over his mind at a time he could not afford to be distracted.

EDI's voice came across the deck "All crew to battle stations, Fleet Command has ordered us to prepare to jump the relay." Shepard tried to shake the creeping loneliness out of his head as he headed up to the CIC. It was time.

 **The Allied Fleet - Admiral Steven Hackett**

The last stragglers had finally arrived. The Council's fleet stood united, resting peacefully amidst the dust and gas of the Serpent Nebula. If an unaware passerby had come upon them, he or she would never have guessed that a few short hours later these ships would be committed to the largest military mission in nearly two millennia. A mission which would begin a war where the result would determine whether intelligent life would continue to exist in the Milky Way.

Admiral Steven Hackett sat in the bridge of the Orizaba and spun slowly side to side in his chair. He took a moment to examine the face of every officer and enlisted sailor in the room. A few had the cool stoney expressions of veterans who had seen many fights and gotten over their nightmares, but far more common amongst his bridge crew were expressions of nervousness and worry. Most of those in his fleet, the humans at least, had never been part of anything more than a skirmish and certainly nothing of the scale they were going into. They were too young to have seen first contact, and the fight against Sovereign and the Geth had included only a portion of the Alliance fleet.

The sailors tried to hide it, but the men and women alike exhibited all the tell-tale signs of false bravado. Too many jokes, eyes darting side to side, and hands shaking when they thought no one was watching. He knew that if they lived long through the week the fear he saw in their eyes would turn into the same steely determination the veterans had. Getting them there safely was his job.

The Admiral resumed reading over his plan and the corresponding diagrams and calculations his operations staff had drawn up. This was the hundredth time he had gone over them and he had everything memorized and burned into his memory, but that was not enough for Hackett. He sat there preparing to give the order that would send thousands of men and women hurtling hundreds of lightyears through space faster than the speed of light on their way to Batarian territory. He was nervous. He hid it well and Hackett had little doubt that he conveyed the calmest and most confident demeanor of anyone on the bridge, but it was a facade.

Any time he led his people into battle he was afraid. There was no punishment nor pain greater than knowing that your mistakes would kill your men long before they killed you. The sleepless nights he suffered were proof enough. Hackett knew he would never escape the nightmares of his past failures and the bags under his eyes that others mistook as the result of age would follow him for the rest of his days. Despite the sleep deprivation, the nightmares, and the guilt, he carried on. He pushed through because, despite all of his many misgivings, he knew there was no one better suited to command this fleet. He would live with the lives of those who died on his conscience, because if he did not he would live with the guilt of knowing he could have saved others. He was be ready for the fleet's departure, and he had made sure the crews of the fleet were as well.

"Alert the fleet. We're ready. Prepare for the jump into Batarian territory."


End file.
